Fresh from his beautiful submission finish of Jarred Brooks at ONE Fight Night 13 earlier this month, Mikey Musumeci will be due for a quick turnaround.
The reigning ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion returns for literally his biggest challenge yet, as he is set to grapple a living legend in Shinya Aoki.
‘Tobikan Judan’ has agreed to face ‘Darth Rigatoni’’ in an openweight grappling-only match-up, as part of the massive ONE Fight Night 15 card on October 6 at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok.
Mikey Musumeci has been a busy man this year, as he is set to make his fourth appearance of 2023. The 27-year-old BJJ prodigy has remained perfect under the ONE banner, scoring back-to-back submission victories against Osamah Almarwai and the aforementioned Brooks in his last two outings.
The Evolve MMA superstar has been miles ahead of the competition and is now considered one of the best pound-for-pound pure grapplers alive.
He’ll put that distinction to the test when he faces a much larger foe known for his ground mastery and absurd finishing prowess.
Even at 40 years old, Aoki still very much lives up to his nickname of “The Grand Master of Flying Submissions”.
The former ONE lightweight world champion has nearly 60 career matches to his name, with 30 of his wins coming by submission.
Aoki, who’s a blackbelt in both judo and BJJ, has been training martial arts while Musumeci was literally still in diapers.
The Japanese legend even competed in the promotion’s first submission grappling match against Garry Tonon in 2017 and against Kade Ruotolo last year.
He fell short on both instances and would love to register a win at Musumeci’s expense.
Two massive all-striking world title matches will headline ONE Fight Night 15. Tawanchai PK Saenchai will look to defend his ONE featherweight Muay Thai gold strap against Superbon Singha Mawynn.
Elsewhere, Jonathan Haggerty and Fabricio Andrade will vie for the vacant ONE bantamweight kickboxing throne.
ONE Fight Night 15 is shoring up to be a can’t miss event, following the addition of Musumeci vs Aoki. This amazing spectacle will air live on US Primetime free of charge for Prime Video members in North America.