In the aftermath of Mikey Musumeci’s submission victory over Gabriel Sousa at ONE 167, Musumeci delivered an eccentric and fiery post-fight speech that has left many puzzled, including his opponent Sousa himself.
Despite Musumeci’s claims of Sousa disrespecting him and his family, leading to bad blood between the two, Sousa has spoken out denying any personal issues with his longtime rival.
“Mikey’s speech didn’t make much sense to me,” Sousa said. “He was saying I talked a lot of crap about him for years and disrespected his family, but that’s not true at all. We’ve had a competitive rivalry on the mats, but it was never personal like that.”
Sousa questioned where Musumeci’s outburst and allegations were coming from. “I have a lot of respect for Mikey as a competitor. His skills speak for themselves. But all this talk of me disrespecting him and his family? That’s news to me. There’s literally no bad blood, at least not from my side.”
The Brazilian grappling star chalked up Musumeci’s rant to being caught up in the heat of the moment after an emotional win. “I can’t get into Mikey’s head, but I think the emotions of our big rematch maybe got to him and he said some things he didn’t really mean.”
While the lead-up was largely respectful, Musumeci’s erratic speech has cast a bizarre cloud over what should have been a celebrated comeback victory for the American over a rival he last faced in 2021.
For Sousa’s part, he insists there was no personal beef motivating the bout. “At the end of the day, it was just two of the best grapplers in the world settling the score. I’ll be ready for the next round whenever he is.”
