Mikey Musumeci will now be making his promotional debut against Felipe Machado in the main event of UFC Fight Pass Invitational 9 on December 5th, 2024. The match will be taking place at a catchweight of 138lbs and it’s going to be huge, as Musumeci and Machado are both very exciting competitors. Somewhat surprisingly, the two men have never actually faced one another before either. That’s largely because Machado has only been competing at black belt for a little over two years now and Musumeci has been under contract with ONE Championship for that entire time, rendering him unable to compete for other promotions.
In fact, this will actually be Musumeci’s first match outside of ONE Championship since he first signed with them back in 2022. He had a very long and fruitful partnership with the promotion and was one of the main figures in the development of their submission grappling divisions. That’s because he was actually the very first champion they crowned just a few months after he first signed with them, and he is also their longest-reigning one to date as well. With over two years as the promotion’s inaugural flyweight champion, Musumeci will still have a special place in the history of ONE Championship even though he was stripped of the title for missing weight.
That wasn’t the only negative to come out of the failed weight-cut though, as Musumeci was also hospitalised with a torn lung immediately afterward. It’s remarkable that he’s been able to bounce back from that so quickly in fact and although he parted ways with ONE Championship after that disaster, he’s such an incredible talent that he’s wasted no time in signing for another promotion. Felipe Machado is a great opponent to welcome Mikey Musumeci to the UFC Fight Pass Invitational roster too, as they’re near enough the same weight and should make for a great stylistic matchup at UFC FPI 9.
UFC Fight Pass announced the news that Mikey Musumeci and Felipe Machado were going to compete in the main event of UFC Fight Pass Invitational 9 in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
