Mikey Musumeci shared the alarming particulars surrounding the damage that took him out of ONE Championship’s return to ‘The Mile Excessive Metropolis’ in September.
Reigning because the ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion, Musumeci was scheduled to sq. off with ADCC and CJI Invitational winner Kade Ruotolo at ONE 168. Sadly, Ruotolo was compelled to bow out of the bout after sustaining accidents throughout his $1 million run on the inaugural Craig Jones Invitational weeks earlier.
Because of this, Musumeci was as a substitute booked to defend his flyweight title towards Bebeto Oliveira on the occasion. The one drawback was, ‘Darth Rigatoni’ was by no means scheduled to defend his title. As a substitute, he was scheduled to maneuver up three weight lessons and problem Ruotolo for his ONE light-weight submission grappling crown.
With a brand new opponent and solely every week to chop a whopping 35 kilos, Musumeci instantly started working. Sadly, he’d by no means make it to struggle evening. Musumeci missed weight and was subsequently stripped of his flyweight title. Weeks later, he exited ONE Championship.
Showing on The Ariel Helwani Present, Musumeci shed some mild on the state of affairs and revealed that he was affected by a really uncommon and life threatening sickness whereas making an attempt to chop the load for ONE 168.
“So, mainly, they supplied me one other opponent at 178 kilos,” Musumeci mentioned. “I needed to be a minimal of, I consider, like 165 or 160-something, however I stroll round so much lighter. I couldn’t legally make that weight due to the Athletic Fee guidelines. I informed them, ‘I can’t make that weight,’ so I most popular to simply follow my division.
“On the time, I used to be very mild. I may’ve made 135 kilos, no drawback. However then the lung damage occurred, which none of us knew about on the time. I solely had two days to make weight, whereas I often want no less than every week. The evening earlier than the match, at weigh-ins, I used to be 140 kilos hydrated. The struggle was set at 135 kilos. That evening, I sustained the damage, which turned out to be known as pneumomediastinum.
“It’s when your lung tears, and air leaks into your throat. I used to be making an attempt to sweat and stored telling my associates, ‘What’s incorrect with my throat? It feels so sore.’ It felt like crispy bubbles in my throat. All of us thought I used to be simply dehydrated or dizzy. However I knew one thing felt off.
“I additionally tried a distinct type of reducing weight since I had solely two days,” Musumeci continued. “I drank plenty of electrolytes, pondering it might assist with the hydration take a look at. In ONE Championship, they use a gravity take a look at to examine the sodium stage in your urine. If it’s above 1.0250, you fail hydration. I assumed ingesting electrolytes would hold my ranges balanced. However when the lung problem occurred, my physique shut down. I couldn’t sweat anymore and have become tremendous dizzy. My urine had a lot sodium from the electrolytes that I couldn’t flush it out, even after ingesting three gallons of water. All the things bought caught in my abdomen.
“At that time, I felt one thing was actually incorrect and determined to go to the hospital. It turned out I used to be extremely fortunate to not have fought. The physician mentioned my lung would have collapsed in a single minute, and I may have died.”
Mikey Musumeci explains why he left ONE Championship
Based on Musumeci, the situation often accounts for one in each 42,000 hospital instances.
“I used to be there for 3 or 4 days,” Musumeci added. “Once I left, I couldn’t elevate my coronary heart fee or breathe closely for 2 weeks. Even strolling made me really feel bizarre. It was scary.”
Musumeci being compelled to chop a lot weight in such a brief span sparked outrage from struggle followers who lambasted ONE Championship for placing the New Jersey native in an virtually unimaginable state of affairs after which proceeded to strip him of his ONE flyweight submission grappling title when he couldn’t hit the mark.
Explaining why he determined to go away ONE, Musumeci appeared to carry no animosity towards the group or it’s CEO, Chatri Sityodtong, who he describes as a parental determine.
Musumeci has since signed a landmark cope with the UFC and is scheduled to make his debut at UFC Struggle Cross Invitational 9 on December 5. ‘Darth Rigatoni’ will tackle Felipe Machado on the occasion.
