Reigning ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion Mikey Musumeci thinks it’s insane that Gordan Ryan is only a year older than him.
Since making his ONE Championship debut in May 2022, the five-time IBJJF gold medalist has taken the BJJ world by storm with wins over the likes of Masakazu Imanari, Osamah Almarwai, Jarred Brooks, Shinya Aoki, and Gabriel Sousa.
Along the way, Musumeci has regularly spoken out against the rampant steroid use that continues to plague the sport he loves so much.
During an appearance on MIGHTYcast with former P4P great Demetrious Johnson, Musumeci sounded off on grapplers who continue to destroy their bodies with substances that are banned from being used in practically every other sport.
Specifically, ‘Darth Rigatoni’ went in on seven-time ADCC champion Gordon Ryan who has been more than open about his steroid abuse in recent years.
Mikey Musumeci on Gordon Ryan, Steroids in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
“Gordon Ryan’s 1 Year Older Then Me, He Looks Like He’s 40 … How Is That Possible.”
@MightyMouse pic.twitter.com/GgeIDOTdAQ
— Lock-In Jiu-Jitsu (@lockinjiujitsu) September 3, 2024
“Gordon Ryan is one year older than me. He looks like he’s 40,” Musumeci said. “Are we one year apart? How is that possible? All the guys who are on steroids, their bodies age like 20 years. Long term, I can compete for another 20 years if I wanted to and you could compete for another so many years.
“We get to enjoy the sport so much longer because we don’t abuse our bodies. And we beat all those guys who take [steroids] anyway so it doesn’t matter. We just have to work harder and be more technical.”
Musumeci also claimed that steroid use is so common in BJJ that some of the biggest gyms in the world are encouraging their teenage students to get on the juice.
“Now the problem in jiu-jitsu is you have kids taking it,” Musumeci added. “12 and 13 year olds… I don’t know if in MMA it’s this bad, but in jiu-jitsu, it’s in kid programs, the biggest teams in the world have kids taking steroids and people know, but they ignore it. They just turn their back to it. That’s something that we have to change in jiu-jitsu as we become a bigger sport.”
Mikey Musumeci still expected to compete at oNE 168: Denver Despite Kade Ruotolo’s Withdrawal
Musuemci was scheduled to return to the ONE Championship Circle this Friday when the promotion heads back to Denver for a loaded ONE 168, but his scheduled opponent, current ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo, was forced to bow out of the bout after suffering injuries while competing in the Under 80kg tournament at the inaugural Craig Jones Invitational last month.
It was another big blow for the event which had already lost ONE atomweight MMA world champion Stamp Fairtex earlier this year. Originally, Stamp was scheduled to face strawweight queen Xiong Jing Nan at the event in a bid to become a two-division titleholder.
Though no official announcements have been made, journalist Nicolas Atkin recently reported that Musumeci is still headed to ‘The Mile High City’ as a replacement opponent has been found.
