UFC’s inaugural Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champion, Mikey Musumeci, just scored a victory over a ranked UFC contender. ‘Darth Rigatoni’ defeated Bryce Mitchell via unanimous decision at UFC BJJ 11 in a non-title featherweight headliner on September 24. Right after securing probably the biggest victory of his BJJ career, Musumeci set his sights on the MMA cage. 

At the UFC BJJ 11 post-fight press conference, the 30-year-old revealed that he’s targeting his MMA debut toward the end of this year, specifically in November or December.

“In MMA, I’m definitely doing 125. That guy is f—ing strong. Before the end of this year, 100%. I will talk to my manager, Abe, and we’ll work on that. But I was actually supposed to fight in an MMA fight like a day later. I was supposed to finish this, fly right out to another place, and then fight MMA. So now, I have to wait for the next event. That didn’t go through. So probably by November or December, I should be going to MMA.”   

Going by Musumeci’s words, he was set for his MMA debut right after the BJJ bout with Mitchell, but he refrained from sharing many details about what derailed his foray into cage fighting. Regardless, this isn’t the first time the Jersey native has spoken determinedly about changing the trajectory of his career.

After beating Shinya Aoki in 2023 at ONE Championship, the jiu-jitsu specialist first revealed his desire to compete in the Asian promotion’s MMA division toward the end of 2024. However, he eventually backed out of those plans due to his lack of striking experience.

A year after that statement, ‘Darth Rigatoni’ joined the UFC’s BJJ platform and defeated Rerisson Gabriel at the promotion’s inaugural event on June 25, 2025, to become the bantamweight champion. Since then, Musumeci has defended the belt three times under the UFC’s Jiu Jitsu banner.

However, the ambition to compete in MMA remained with Musumeci as he joined Merab Dvalishvili’s coach, John Wood, at Syndicate MMA in June this year and announced the alliance with an Instagram post. In May, he again spoke about a potential debut in the latter half of 2026.

“I might later in the year. I’ve been working on having an MMA matchup later in the year,” Musumeci said on his YouTube channel, Mikey Musumeci’s Overdogs BJJ, in May. “I definitely have to keep learning more wrestling, and I’m learning the basics of boxing right now.”

It’s commendable that Mikey Musumeci wants to test himself in the cage after dominating the BJJ scene for so long. But he’s far from the first fighter to do so. Before him, names like Kron Gracie, who comes from the famous Gracie family, fought in the UFC.

Musumeci could certainly find himself on that list if he eventually makes his debut. But to make sure he properly makes that transition, the 30-year-old is ready to make a major sacrifice. 

Mikey Musumeci is ready to vacate his BJJ belt for MMA debut   

If anyone has an iota of doubt about whether ‘Darth Rigatoni’ is actually serious about his foray into MMA, Musumeci further claimed that he’s ready to relinquish his BJJ bantamweight belt to fully focus on mixed martial arts.

“So, I think it’s time for me to start talking with the UFC about this conversation about vacating,” Musumeci said further in the post-fight presser. “I don’t really have desire anymore… I won every title I’ve wanted to in Jiu Jitsu in my weight class. For me, to do this over and over, it kind of gets played out. It doesn’t seem like it’s giving me the high anymore. So, this tonight gave me that high because I was actually having fun.”

Musumeci understandably feels like competing in BJJ isn’t fun anymore. He has won almost all the major belts across different organizations and defeated numerous stellar opponents.

Still, even while Musumeci considers vacating the belt, he remains open to a couple of jiu-jitsu bouts against names like Arman Tsarukyan and Brian Ortega. However, he ultimately believes MMA is the next step for him.

“Arman, Bryce, Brian Ortega, people like that, where we could entertain the people,” Musumeci added. “I think that this would go further in Jiu Jitsu, where we get more views and things than actually staying in this Jiu Jitsu loop with the nerdy Jiu Jitsu people.”

Well, Tsarukyan has already shown interest in colliding with the 30-year-old in a grappling match later this year. Still, it seems Mikey Musumeci is adamant about trying a fresh matchup in MMA.

The UFC already has events lined up for November and December, including Fight Nights and marquee events. So, there is a chance Mikey could end up making his debut there.

But since he lacks any prior experience in MMA, he might start on the regional scene and slowly make his way to the UFC. That way, he can find out whether this path actually suits him before taking on stiffer competition.