Mikey Musumeci Opens Up On Overcoming Depression For ONE Fight Night 10 Clash

ONE Flyweight Submission Grappling World Champion Mikey Musumeci put on another flawless perfromance when he defended his crown last Saturday, 6th May, at the historic ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs. Moraes III.

And with another finish, the American Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu superstar’s star continues to soar.

“Darth Rigatoni” met Osamah Almarwai in Denver, Colorado’s 1stBank Center, and he quickly took control of the bout in the same dominant fashion ONE fans have become accustomed to seeing.

With credit to Almarwai’s defense and durability, it wasn’t until the final two minutes of the bout that Musumeci managed to force the tap by locking in a rear-naked choke to earn the win and a standing ovation from the sold-out crowd.

In typical fashion, Musumeci wasn’t willing to play on the defense against his decorated foe and instead relied on his offensive strength.

“Every second I’m in a match, I’m attacking a submission to finish the match. There’s not one second in this match I wasn’t attacking to finish, so I just kept attacking,” Musumeci said.

“Kind of like striking, where you’re looking for the knockout punch, I’m just attacking finishes every second, and then I finally got the finish in the end.”

While he showcased the same dominant grappler that has come to the Circle and won four times in a row last Friday night, Musumeci had to overcome significant difficulties in the last couple of months to make it to the event.

In taking a moment after the bout to address the fans, the American revealed he had fought an arduous battle against depression during his training camp. 

He made it clear that he had come through those struggles, however, and encouraged anybody else going through the same thing to keep moving forward.

“The only thing I will say is that if I get through these times, everyone can, you know? You just have to be patient, and it’s very hard,” Musumeci explained.

“I just felt so blessed that I’m here, and I got emotional at the end of the match, because I just reflected on the last two months. It was just a mix of me training, praying, training, and just asking God to help me. And now I’m back.”

The 26-year-old also took time, following ONE’s debut show in the U.S, to talk about the promotion’s multi-sport platform and how it will appeal to its new audience.

He’s a strong ambassador for submission grappling and believes that ONE will take it to new and exciting heights. 

“I hope everyone enjoyed the show. We worked hard for this card. And yeah, I think that ONE Championship is the future, and I think that American fans are going to love this. 

They’re going to appreciate the martial arts – all across the disciplines,” he said.

“I think that’s what’s so special about ONE and again bringing the whole world together. It isn’t just the US. It’s the whole world. And traveling the world with jiu-jitsu, like, meeting so many different people, different religions, different cultures. Because we shared jiu-jitsu. It connected us.

“I feel like ONE is connecting the whole world, and you could feel that when you’re watching. From all the different countries, there’s people on these cards. It was a very special event.”