Mikey Musumeci has announced his intention to pursue mixed martial arts competition, marking a significant shift in his career. During a post-event press conference at UFC BJJ’s fifth event, Musumeci confirmed his plans to make an MMA debut.
“We’ll see you might see me in UFC MMA in the near future as well.”
“So immediately after this, I get back to training, working more for MMA. But yeah, we’ll see. In the next few months, like we’ll announce soon”
The 27-year-old champion successfully defended his title against Shay Montague at the event.
“I had more fun. I played top instead of just playing guard. So I feel like I showed I have really good passing.”
“In the gym, you’ll just see me mostly playing top. I’m mostly a top player, right? But when I compete, I just look for the fastest way to finish usually.”
Musumeci acknowledged that his appearance and demeanor make him an unconventional MMA star.
“Obviously I’m not the stereotypical jujitsu person or a MMA star. Imagine me doing MMA, how crazy that would be. Like people would be like, there’s no way that person could actually do MMA and compete, right? But I love proving people wrong.”
The champion plans to compete at 125 lbs (56.7 kg) in MMA, a weight class he hasn’t competed at since winning the IBJJF World Championship in 2021.
“I think I could go really far. In MMA, I would probably do 125lbs. So I’ll be very strong in that division.”
Musumeci noted that making the weight should be manageable with proper preparation, estimating he would need about six to eight weeks of dieting. To prepare for his transition, Musumeci has already begun training with high-level MMA practitioners. He recently worked with UFC bantamweight contender Umar Nurmagomedov and was particularly impressed.
” feel like they’re okay at jujitsu, like they understand the basics. But I actually was impressed with Umar because he is very technical. He doesn’t try to overpower, like he was actually very technical.”
Musumeci also revealed plans to visit Dagestan as part of his MMA preparation.
“My whole team is going to help me right now and make my training and stuff for the future, but definitely they’re going to have me go to Dagestan.”
He expressed interest in experiencing different training cultures, having previously lived in Asia for three years.
“I think that the uncomfortability of doing something that I that new will definitely make me improve in Jiu-Jitsu as well.”
“I love learning, you know. So I think that the uncomfortability of doing something new will definitely make me improve in Jiu-Jitsu as well.”
UFC BJJ President Claudia Gadelha expressed support for Musumeci’s ambitions while acknowledging the challenges ahead.
” I think MMA is a different monster. He needs to go spend more time training and stand up and wrestling, but he is a phenomenal athlete. I definitely think he can do it.”
