Mikey Musumeci will now defend his flyweight submission grappling world title against Osamah Almarwai at ONE Fight Night 10 on May 5th, 2023. This will likely be his toughest challenge yet since signing to compete for ONE Championship, as Almarwai is a top-level BJJ competitor who is still very much in the athletic prime of his competitive career. Musumeci won his title by taking on another veteran BJJ black belt in Cleber Sousa and although he couldn’t find the finish, he won a convincing decision to take home the belt.
Musumeci has already defended his flyweight title, as he took on Sambo world champion Gantamur Bayanduuren at ONE Fight Night 6. Musumeci was relentless in attacking Bayanduuren’s leg and caused a series of significant injuries to his opponent as a result, but Bayanduuren refused to tap and Musumeci still couldn’t find the finish. This will no doubt mean that Mikey Musumeci will come into his match against Osamah Almarwai eager to find a finish, as he was awarded an impressive $50,000 performance bonus the last time he submitted an opponent in the ONE Championship cage.
That will not be an easy challenge though, as Almarwai is a high-level BJJ black belt and a fantastic competitor in his own right. He was one of the most successful brown belt competitors in the roosterweight division for a few years before being promoted to black belt from Andre Galvao in 2022. Since then, Almarwai has quickly established himself as one of the best at his weight in no gi competition by winning both the IBJJF no gi Pan Championship and the IBJJF no gi world championship that same year.
Almarwai will also be competing alongside one of his teammates at ONE Fight Night 10, as Tye Ruotolo will be facing Reinier de Ridder in a submission grappling superfight. This event will also mark the first time that ONE Championship has staged an event in America, so it seems as though the Asian promotion is pulling out all the stops to make a good impression for their debut in the country. This will likely be a sign of things to come, as the promotion has grown tremendously over the last few years and this expansion should see them build an even bigger fanbase.
The news that Mikey Musumeci was going to defend his flyweight submission grappling world title against Osamah Almarwai at ONE Fight Night 10 on May 5th, 2023 was announced in a post to the official Instagram account of ONE Championship:
