Grappling sensation Mikey Musumeci shocked the combat sports community when he signed a landmark deal with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) late last month. Their budding partnership is expected to be the first of many high-profile collaborations for the promotion’s jiu jitsu takeover.
In addition to bringing “stability” and “ethics” to the sport, Musumeci is hoping UFC can help clean up the competition, which has long been overshadowed by the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). Gordon Ryan, widely-considered the greatest no-gi grappler in history, is no stranger to steroid accusations.
“I feel like a lot of jiu-jitsu right now is very unstable,” Musumeci said during this week’s media day. “There’s a lot of horrible ethics, morals, and I hope now that with the UFC we can change that and make it a professional sport. Because it hasn’t been a professional sport, jiu-jitsu, with people they blatantly use [steroids]. They’re not athletes. They really don’t have the values of martial artists. I really just want to change that and give us this platform at UFC and become professionals.”
“UFC’s a professional company. The way we’ve been in jiu-jitsu, we’ve been amateurs,” Musumeci continued. “We really are just in this barbaric amateur phase of jiu-jitsu. Now UFC is starting something professional. We need drug testing. Completely make Darwinism with the people on steroids that either have to just get off and they either die or they adapt. Then the next generation realizes they can’t just start steroids when they’re like 10 years old. I want to change that. That will give me the most fulfillment.”
Ryan was quick to respond on Instagram, blasting the “little rat” for his phony moral ground and perpetual sadness, which “King” suggests are quietly masking Musumeci’s fear of losing in high-profile competitions like Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC).
“The guy talking about ethics and morals has been on 37 different jiu jitsu teams, got what he could from them, and left,” Ryan fired back. “You wanna have my [expletive] in your mouth constantly and talk about morals? How about start with loyalty. This little rat’s been on more teams than Keenan. Taking what he wishes and when he can’t learn anymore, leaves to the next. Get off your moral high ground, dork. This guy is talking about cheating. Steroids are legal in every competition minus specific IBJJF competitions since 2019. It’s not cheating. All I hear is an excuse for why you could never do what others, specifically I, have done.”
“Then, he’s going off about mental fortitude, the same chicken sh*t that posts once every few months about his mental health and how sad he is and how he can’t handle people talking shit to him,” Ryan continued. “And the same guy who got invited to ADCC more than anyone who’s ever competed, and didn’t even compete because he’s afraid he can’t win in that ruleset. Made up some B.S. excuses and pulled out every time. All these [expletive] suckers have my name in their [mouth] speaking from some moral high ground, yet can’t even do the most basic things in the sport, like stay loyal to those who brought you up. It’s impressive.”
Musumeci will compete in his first match under the UFC banner when he collides with longtime veteran Felipe Machado. Their headlining affair tops the UFC Fight Pass Invitational 9 (UFC FPI 9) card TONIGHT (Thurs., Dec. 5, 2024) at APEX in Las Vegas.
For complete FPI results and updates click here.