The past 48 hours have been nothing short of brutal for jiu-jitsu standout Mikey Musumeci.
ONE 168 took a dramatic turn as flyweight submission grappling champion Mikey Musumeci was controversially stripped of his title after missing weight—an outcome driven by a sudden demand to drop three weight classes in just a few days, following an unexpected opponent switch. Normally, missing weight invites criticism for a lack of discipline, but in Musumeci’s case, the jiu-jitsu world has rallied to his defense, blaming the promotion for putting him in an impossible situation.
Mikey Musumeci fails to make the weight and hydration to defend the ONE Flyweight Submission Grappling World Championship at ONE 168: Denver. A catchweight bout versus Bebeto Oliviera is now being negotiated.
Because Bebeto passed weight and hydration, he is still eligible to… pic.twitter.com/0kyzJZbRhN
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) September 5, 2024
How unfair is this??? The man was supposed to fight at Lightweight just a couple of days ago, then he suddenly gets a new opponent, 3 weight classes below, and loses his title on the scale, a title he wasn't supposed to defend in the first place. You didn't fail us Mikey. They… https://t.co/533OhFCqXU
— Cerebral Vigilante (@Delisketo) September 6, 2024
Mikey Musumeci Faces Health Crisis After Last-Minute Weight Class Change
The last 48 hours have been nothing short of a nightmare for Musumeci. The five-time IBJJF world champion was initially preparing to move up in weight to face lightweight grappling champion Kade Ruotolo in a highly anticipated superfight at ONE 168 on Sept. 6, 2024, in Denver. However, when Ruotolo withdrew after suffering an injury at the Craig Jones Invitational, Musumeci was thrown into a different fight—defending his flyweight title against Bebeto Oliveira. With only five days to cut 35 pounds, Musumeci couldn’t make it down to 135 pounds, leading to the loss of his title.
Things only worsened from there. Musumeci injured himself during the extreme weight cut, forcing the cancellation of the bout. He later revealed he had been hospitalized with a lung tear, known as pneumomediastinum, which he believes resulted from the breathing exercises he used during the cut.
“I just want to thank everyone for the messages and support,” Musumeci wrote on Instagram. “I have been in the hospital since early this morning. I have pneumomediastinum, which means I had a tear in my lung Wednesday I believe when I was cutting weight doing rickson diaphragm breathing (didn’t know this was possible) and air got into my chest and then into my neck. This is a life threatening condition, and if I would have competed, I could have died the doctor told me. So first I was upset, now I’m full of gratitude to be alive and that I didn’t keep pushing. God protected me”
The entire scenario is tough to swallow. Expecting any athlete to drop such a significant amount of weight on short notice was unrealistic, and punishing Musumeci for missing weight only adds to the frustration. ONE Championship has long touted its weight-cutting system as superior, designed to avoid dangerous dehydration through hydration testing. But given the situation, it raises the question—how was Musumeci supposed to shed 35 pounds in just five days?
As Musumeci focuses on his recovery, fans are left hoping he’ll bounce back stronger and return to the mats soon.
