Mikey Musumeci submitted his throwaway opponent in two minutes. By the end of the night, however, it was not the submission that had the grappling world talking.
Standing at the event press conference, Mikey Musumeci signaled immediately that something was off:
“Finish the match and get out because I’m sick.”
What followed was the disclosure that he had competed with a staph infection requiring hospital care the night before the event.
“Yeah, like two days ago and like I couldn’t walk last night. Like it was really painful. I was in the hospital. I was just very dizzy, out of it. I couldn’t warm up today. I slept 20 hours last night. It was a very interesting situation because I’m main event of this card. I don’t want to let anyone down. I had an obligation to be out there competing even though I was really ill. In my mind I went into that autopilot mode, just finish the match as fast as I can. It wasn’t really me being fluid, me having fun. It was more just me in that desperation, finish the match because I knew I didn’t have a lot of energy,”
He said the infection began from a small bite.
“It was just a mosquito bite and I’m like, ‘Oh, I have a mosquito bite. It’s a little itchy.’ And then all of a sudden it went from being an itchy mosquito bite to me not being able to walk in pain. I think because I was cutting weight, all of a sudden it just escalated like that, probably drops your immune system. But it just got really intense really fast.”
He described the decision point before competing.
“It was 2:00 a.m., middle of the night, and I’m with a fever ( ), and I’m like, ‘Should I do this?’ But no, I had this obligation to my fans and everyone. I said I was going to be here, so I came “
Mikey Musumeci said he was cleared by medical staff.
“The medics looked at it. I told them I was on antibiotics. I showed them the antibiotics I was on, they tested my leg and they cleared me. I was wearing spats, so I wasn’t contagious to my opponent. There was really nothing that was harmful for my opponent. It was just more harmful to myself because I was very unwell, but that’s it.”
After the submission win, he collapsed to the mat.
“This is the first time you saw me lay down after competing. I laid on the floor because I was very unwell. That’s not really like me to lay down.”
On Instagram, Mikey Musumeci explained further:
“sometimes when unfortunate circumstances hit us we have to rise to the occasion, I didn’t want to let down anyone that came to support me or watch the event and I had the mindset regardless of how I feel I’m going to go in there and give it my all.”
He added:
“Now let’s get rid of this infection.”
UFC BJJ President Claudia Gadelha countered Musumeci’s narrative and said they were unaware beforehand.
“We had no idea. We didn’t know that this was going on until he said that on the mic and we were like, ‘Oh, woah, wow.’ I wish he’d said something because then we would have involved our professionals, the PI staff, our medical doctors. We didn’t know what was happening, but if we knew we would have managed this better.”
She added:
“I think this is something that would not happen in MMA because there’s a lot of inspections before the event. Jiu-jitsu athletes are still learning how to compete in a professional event like the UFC. So I’m going to make sure we communicate that to them moving forward and educate them properly.”
Her take is frankly very surprising given how many UFC stars have competed and or admited they had staph immediately after competing.
Community reaction was immediate, with concerns about infection risk and medical oversight in grappling events.
Mikey Musumeci responded online:
“Was on antibiotics over 72 hours which makes me not contagious. UFC doctors examined it, sealed and wrapped the area, then spats were put over it.”
He also said:
“Wow so me getting cleared by doctors and professionals to compete is my fault? I didn’t hide it. I came forward with it. Also spoke to many doctors that agree with what I am saying… also you guys would be the first to talk crap and complain if I pulled out so it was a lose lose. I know I didn’t put my opponent at risk in our 2 minute match.”
Some in the community argued the issue reflects broader structural problems in grappling safety rather than a single athlete decision.
Whether UFC BJJ changes its medical protocols remains to be seen. Given the frequency with which UFC stars compete with active infections it’s doubtful they will do anything to deal with the issue in a responsible manner.
