Tammi Musumeci will join her brother Mikey in ONE Championship on March 24. The multiple-time IBJJF World Champion will take on Bianca Basilio on the lead card of ONE Fight Night 8. The strawweight submission grappling contest will help to kickstart the evening in an exciting fashion.
Musumeci has said she is just looking to hit “cool stuff” on the canvas in her debut. But what should fans know about the American before she debuts on Friday? Here are three facts to know the grappling ace a little better ahead of ONE Fight Night 8.
She Still Trains With Mikey
Mikey Musumeci has ascended to the top of the grappling world and now holds the ONE Flyweight Submission World Championship. But that doesn’t mean her brother has left her side. Although they do additional training, the siblings still find time to drill together.
“We started at the same time. We’ve always been partners, all the way back, even. We’re still training partners. So we train at different gyms, but we also train with each other. So we do training on the side by ourselves, which I felt helped me a ton. Because he’d worked with me even when he was like a blue belt or kid, he’d always show me what he was working on. So we’ve always worked together. And I feel like that made us both pretty successful over the years because we were consistent lead training partners,” said Musumeci.
Their extensive training together should be evident on fight night as Musumeci believes she shares a similar style to that of her brother. That should be an exciting proposition for the crowd. Against her Brazilian opponent, that style will be forced to be near-perfect.
“I feel I’m like Mikey. I like to joke around and say I’m a knock-off version of him. He gets mad when I say that. I’m like Mikey, I feel. I’m trying to be like Mikey. I feel like I also have some pressure on top, which is a little different. I do some little things differently than him. I think because we’re different body types. But I feel like a lot of the time it’s more like closer to his style,” said Musumeci.
She Used To Compete Against Boys
Rolling with Mikey has not been the only time she has grappled with boys. Growing up, Musumeci would often find herself competing against them. It was a product of a time when not as many girls were participating in the sport.
Being commonplace on the east coast, Musumeci did not think it was out of the norm. However, she later found out that not everyone shared the same experience. But it never deterred the talented grappler, who often found success no matter who she shared the canvas with.
“I really didn’t think anything of it at that time. I mean, I’d already started training jiu-jitsu before I even competed against them. Even when I was 15, it started to be a little different, but I felt like I was still able to compete with them, which was pretty cool. And I felt like that was something that a lot of them train today or even, I don’t know how. I even spoke to McKenzie Dern about this a while ago; she said she’s never faced guys in competition because, I guess, where she lived, it was a different area. Where I grew up, no girls were competing. I mean, it was pretty much just competing against guys. But I didn’t really think anything of it at the time. I liked it, too, because I felt it was pretty cool. I even wrestled in high school a little bit against guys. I just didn’t think anything of it,” said Musumeci.
Musumeci Is A Practicing Lawyer
Musumeci is at the top of her game in more than one field. She has claimed gold in the grappling world and achieved her law degree. She has not put that on the backburner as she is a practising lawyer.
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The American sees similarities between the two but enjoys the differences. For her, it’s all about finding balance. Jiu-jitsu has allowed her an escape from the mental taxation law can bring.
“I mean, it’s similar. They’re very similar because there’s so many different areas in law. And, like, it’s never one situation. It’s never one size fits all, which is kind of how jiu-jitsu is. So I mean, it is very similar how you’re always growing, always learning new things. So I do enjoy that aspect of it. But I enjoy that they’re two separate things because it gives me a break from both. It’s a different thing. It’s more of a mental exhaustion instead of physical, which jiu-jitsu is. But then also it makes your mind keep working, which I think helps you in jiu-jitsu because your mind is continually working,” said Musumeci.
ONE Fight Night 8 emanates from the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Friday, March 24. The action begins at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Prime Video. The event is free for all Amazon Prime members based in the U.S. and Canada.
