ONE Championship: Mikey Musumeci and Cleber Sousa to meet in inaugural submission grappling title fight on Prime Video
- ONE will crown its first submission grappling champion on September 30, when Musumeci and Sousa collide for flyweight gold
- CEO Chatri Sityodtong believes the bout will be ‘the single most watched match in the history of grappling’
ONE Championship will soon crown its first submission grappling champion.
On Tuesday evening, the Asian martial arts promotion’s Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong revealed that flyweight grappling stars Mikey Musumeci and Cleber Sousa will meet on September 30, with a world title on the line.
The title bout will land on ONE’s second broadcast on Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service.
“ONE will feature its first-ever world championship title match in submission grappling,” Chatri wrote on his official Facebook account. “With a TV broadcast to over 154 countries around the world, it will be the single most watched match in the history of grappling.
“Between these two world champions, someone is getting finished. Guaranteed.”
Musumeci is a five-time IBJJF black belt world champion. The 26-year-old American made his ONE debut in April, defeating Japanese MMA trailblazer Masakazu Imanari with a rear-naked choke in a catchweight submission grappling match.
The 27-year-old Brazilian Sousa, meanwhile, is also an accomplished IBJJF champion with medals in multiple divisions. He has yet to compete in ONE.
Musumeci and Sousa have met on the grappling mats twice before, picking up a win apiece. Musumeci won their first encounter on points, and lost the second via referee decision.
ONE: Angela Lee, Xiong Jingnan settle trilogy on Prime Video 2 card
ONE’s second broadcast on Prime Video will be topped by a blockbuster MMA showdown between atomweight champion Angela Lee and strawweight champion Xiong Jingnan, who will be defending her title.
Like Musumeci and Sousa, the two MMA stars will be meeting for a third time. Xiong won the first fight, at strawweight in March of 2019, by fifth-round TKO. Lee evened the score in the rematch, down at atomweight in October of the same year, with a fifth-round submission.
