Michael Musumeci has made it to the exclusive group of non-Brazilian world jiu-jitsu champions. The Caio Terra Association athlete joins BJ Penn (2000) and Rafael Lovato Jr. (2007), the other two American* fighters to have gotten there since the Worlds’ first edition in 1996.
Musumeci made history by beating the light featherweight field. The American from Marlboro, New Jersey used solid strategy against his archrival João Miyao and beat him for a fifth consecutive time. This win came by advantages, but at the end he sank a foot lock, avoided the points from the sweep and set the Pyramid on fire.
* Robert Drysdale (2005 World Champion) has double citizenship but trained his whole life in Brazil.