Osamah Almarwai, the IBJJF No-Gi World Champion, recently shared his thoughts about the impact of his encounter with Mikey Musumeci during ONE Fight Night 10 in May 2023.
Despite facing a setback against Musumeci, the reigning ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion, Almarwai’s experience has been nothing short of transformative.
Here’s what he had to share in an interview with the ONE Championship:
Mikey is very technical.
People always ask me: “Is he strong?”
I’m like, yeah, he’s strong, but he’s more technical than strong.I didn’t feel the strength is what gave him the win, it was the technique.
The training camp was also a transformative experience for Almarwai:
That camp changed me.
Even though I lost, it made me a way better grappler than I was, just dealing with all the pressure because it was something new.
I was doing interviews every day with people from in the Middle East and in the US.
So it made me a better person.I learned a lot about training, about preparing for one opponent.
He learned a lot from Musumeci as well:
The technique that Mikey caught me with, the pass, taking my back, and submitting me, and I went back and I studied that and I started applying it in the gym.
When I catch you with this I’m, like: “You know where I learned this from? Getting caught by Mikey.”Because if you look at the negative things, you’re not going to improve.
And I watched some of Mikey’s techniques, like how he finishes foot locks and so on, and I learn.Even though he’s my opponent, but you got to learn.
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