Mikey Musumeci is no longer the UFC BJJ bantamweight champion. The 30-year-old announced on social media that he’s vacating the belt so he can put his MMA training first, and UFC BJJ confirmed the move during its UFC BJJ 12 broadcast.
“END OF ANOTHER CHAPTER today I would like to announce that I have decided to vacate my @ufcbjj bantamweight title,” Musumeci wrote. He said he hasn’t lost in the division in almost a decade and has already won every gi and no gi title he wanted. He also closed the door on ADCC with a laugh, writing that “ADCC is not my category and I have no ambition to go up weight classes for no money.”
He didn’t give a date for an MMA debut, and he isn’t disappearing from the mats either. Musumeci said he still trains jiu-jitsu every day and “can come back anytime,” and he plans to keep doing grappling super fights with UFC BJJ. He framed those as a different style of jiu-jitsu meant to draw in viewers from outside the sport, which he said matters more to him at this stage of his career.
The blueprint for those super fights already exists. Musumeci recently ran through UFC fighter Bryce Mitchell in a crossover match, and he did it even after offering modified rules. MMA Mania reported he plans more matchups along those lines.
Counting one match at the UFC Fight Pass Invitational before the rebrand, Musumeci competed six times with the UFC across roughly two years. MMA Mania pointed out that only one of those opponents, Shay Montague, was a world champion, and Montague’s no gi world title came from a lighter division. The rest drew criticism from key people in the industry as overmatched for title bouts against someone of his level. The heavy lifting on his resume happened elsewhere, with major titles in IBJJF and ONE before he ever wore UFC BJJ gold.
Fonacier vs. Barboza for the vacant belt
UFC BJJ wasted no time filling the gap. Musumeci’s teammate Jalen Fonacier, a 21-year-old Filipino grappler and two-time IBJJF world champion who is 4-0 with the promotion, will fight Kleber Barboza for the vacant bantamweight title at UFC BJJ 13 on Oct. 29. Barboza makes his promotional debut in the title fight after signing up for and winning the UFC BJJ Opens in Las Vegas.
There’s some irony baked in. While he held the belt, Musumeci repeatedly pushed UFC BJJ to open a flyweight division so Fonacier could chase a title at his more natural weight. Fonacier gets his shot, just at bantamweight.
The rest of the UFC BJJ 13 card so far: Nick Rodriguez vs. Nata Tenca, Ffion Davies vs. Jaine Fragoso, Liam Crelinsten vs. Seilkhan Bolatbek, Martin Gonzalez vs. Joao Nicolite and Tristan Sainz vs. David Weintraub.
My take: Musumeci owes nobody another title defense. He’s 30, he’s been unbeaten at this weight for nearly 10 years, and getting paid well to make a UFC fighter look lost under rules tilted toward the other guy is smart prizefighting. The disappointment belongs to the promotion. Two years with arguably the best grappler at this weight and it produced one world champion opponent, and that one came up from a lighter class. Fonacier deserved a flyweight belt built for him, and Barboza deserved a few more steps before a title match. Instead UFC BJJ is putting an Opens winner straight into a championship match on Oct. 29, which tells me the matchmaking approach that shortchanged Musumeci’s reign hasn’t changed one bit.
