Demetrious Johnson vs. Mikey Musumeci almost got here to fruition
In a latest look on The Ariel Helwani Present, Johnson shared the discussions between himself and ONE a couple of return to face Musumeci.
“They provided me a brilliant combat with Mikey Musumeci,” Johnson stated. “They had been pondering of doing a grappling match with Mikey, after which we had been going back-and-forth on the value and couldn’t come to phrases. After which ONE stated ‘How a couple of tremendous combat? One spherical grappling, one spherical blended martial arts?’. And I informed them, guys, I really don’t care about preventing [anymore]…
“I feel it was three weeks in the past? For excellent cash, phenomenal cash, and I simply don’t care to combat. I really don’t care to combat blended martial arts anymore.”
Musumeci was purported to compete at ONE 168 earlier than withdrawing on account of sickness. ONE stripped him of his flyweight grappling title after lacking weight and failing a hydration take a look at.
Johnson was the centerpiece of an MMA commerce in 2018 between ONE and the UFC. The UFC acquired rights to Ben Askren in alternate for Johnson.
Whereas the UFC’s gamble on Askren didn’t pan out, ONE arguably one the commerce handily with Johnson. He accrued a 5-1 file with the promotion together with a stint because the ONE flyweight titleholder.
Johnson made his promotional debut towards Tatsumitsu Wada in Aug. 2019, incomes a unanimous resolution win. He defeated Danny Kingad in a No. 1 contender combat later that yr to win the ONE Flyweight Grand Prix event.
Johnson returned in 2021 towards Adriano Moraes, dropping by a knee knockout within the second spherical. However, he acquired his revenge towards Moraes at ONE on Prime Video 1, knocking out Moraes with a flying knee.
Johnson turned ONE’s inaugural Corridor of Fame inductee at ONE 168. As for Musumeci, a timeline for his return is unsure, and the Johnson combat seems firmly off the desk.
