Mikey Musumeci pulled off a big submission win at ONE Fight Night 15 on October 6th, 2023 as he managed to finish MMA legend Shinya Aoki with his own technique, the Aoki lock. Although Musumeci is the reigning featherweight submission grappling champion at ONE Championship, his title wasn’t on the line in this match as he was moving up in weight to challenge Aoki. The weight difference meant that it was going to be a challenge for Musumeci, even if Aoki is coming towards the end of his grappling and MMA career.
Musumeci offered his leg out to Aoki in order to bait him into taking him down, and he dropped to his back as soon as Aoki grabbed his ankle. Aoki decided to pass from his knees and Musumeci was having some difficulty controlling him from open guard, so he pummeled his legs inside to butterfly guard instead. That didn’t last long though and Musumeci returned to open guard, trying to reach for Aoki’s leg and get an entry into K-guard. He switched from one side to the other and eventually managed to get the entry he was looking for, pulling Aoki’s leg through and sitting him down.
Mikey Musumeci was working from a belly-down butterfly ashi position to try and get a good bite on the foot, but Shinya Aoki was defending well for a while. Musumeci managed to get the grip he was looking for and he isolated Aoki’s foot in an Aoki lock position, cranking on it and forcing him to tap after just a little over three minutes of action. It was a convincing win for Musumeci and he extended his unbeaten record for ONE Championship even further, while Aoki will likely return to his professional MMA career for the foreseeable future instead.
ONE Fight Night 15 Full Results
Thanh Le defeats Ilya Freymanov via Submission – Heel Hook (Round 1, 1:02)
Le becomes the interim ONE Championship Featherweight MMA World Champion
Jonathan Di Bella defeats Danial Williams via Decision – Unanimous (Round 5, 3:00)
Di Bella becomes the ONE Championship Strawweight Kickboxing World Champion
Tawanchai P.K.Saenchai defeats Jo Nattawutvia Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 5:00)
Mikey Musumeci defeats Shinya Aoki via Submission – Aoki Lock (Round 1, 3:05)
Joshua Pacio defeats Mansur Malachiev via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 5:00)
Zhang Lipeng defeats Timofey Nastyukhin via TKO – Punches (Round 1, 3:18)
Hu Yong defeats Eko Roni Saputra via TKO – Punches (Round 1, 1:03)
Phetjeeja Lukjaoporongtom defeats Celest Hansen via TKO – Doctor Stoppage (Round 3, 1:01)
Hiroyuki Tetsuka defeats Jin Tae-Ho via Submission – Armbar (Round 1, 4:45)
Shakir Al-Tekreeti defeats Bampara Kouyate via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 3:00)
The full event replay of ONE Fight Night 15, including the match between Mikey Musumeci and Shinya Aoki, has been uploaded to the promotion’s official YouTube channel:
