Mikey Musumeci vacates the UFC BJJ bantamweight title to focus on MMA
The 30-year-old American says he won every title he wanted in jiu-jitsu and can come back anytime; Jalen Fonacier and Kleber Barboza fight for the belt at UFC BJJ 13
Mikey Musumeci is no longer the UFC BJJ bantamweight champion. The 30-year-old American announced on social media that he has decided to vacate the title to focus on his MMA training. He posted the message on Thursday night, October 8, while UFC BJJ 12 was taking place in Las Vegas.
“END OF ANOTHER CHAPTER – today I would like to announce that I have decided to vacate my @ufcbjj bantamweight title. I haven’t lost a match in this category for almost 10 years and have won every title that I had wanted to win in my career in gi and nogi,” he wrote.
“Obsessed with training mma”
Musumeci gave his reason right after. “I am 30 years old and have been obsessed with training mma and want to prioritize my training for mma!” he wrote. He is in Tokyo, where he said he has been learning striking every day. “Time off never exists for those obsessed,” he wrote this week, when he thanked the coach he trains with in Japan.
In the same message, he ruled out the ADCC as a goal. “Adcc is not my category and I have no ambition to go up weight classes for no money,” he wrote. The ADCC is the biggest no-gi grappling tournament in the world, and its lightest men’s division is 66 kg (145.5 pounds), above the weight where Musumeci competes.
“I can come back anytime”
Giving up the belt does not mean he is leaving jiu-jitsu. “I train Jiu Jitsu everyday still and can come back anytime… I will continue to do more grappling super fights with @ufcbjj just a different style of Jiu Jitsu more to get people out of our sport to watch! That means more to me at the point I am in my career,” he wrote.
That is what happened in his most recent match. In September, at UFC BJJ 11, Musumeci faced Bryce Mitchell, a UFC MMA fighter, and won by unanimous decision, in a match where he had agreed not to go for leg submissions. After that match, he had already told reporters he planned to talk to the UFC about leaving the title.
Musumeci ended the message with thanks. “I want to thank everyone that has supported me and @claudiagadelha and Hunter for how kind they have been with me and continue to be. Excited about my next chapter SO MANY CRAZY THINGS AHEAD,” he wrote. Claudia Gadelha is the president of UFC BJJ.
Unbeaten in UFC BJJ
The American leaves the belt without a loss in the organization. He won the title in June 2025, at UFC BJJ 1, when he submitted Brazil’s Rerisson Gabriel with a heel hook, and he defended it three times, against Keven Carrasco, Shay Montague and Kevin Dantzler, always by submission.
Before the UFC, Musumeci was a four-time IBJJF world champion in the gi as a black belt, in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021, and a grappling champion in ONE Championship. His full story is on the Mikey Musumeci profile page on VF Comunica.
One of the first reactions to the announcement came from Rubens Charles, known as Cobrinha, who commented: “The goat.” One follower summed up the decision with a video game comparison: “Basically finished story mode for bjj and now doing side quests.”
Fonacier and Kleber Barboza fight for the belt
The title already has a date to get a new owner. At UFC BJJ 13, on October 29 in Las Vegas, American Jalen Fonacier, a Cobrinha student who is unbeaten in the organization, faces Brazil’s Kleber Barboza, from the Dream Art team. The match was announced on the same night.
Fonacier thanked the former champion when he wrote about the title match. “Thank you to my bro @mikeymusumeci for believing in me and giving me the blessing to chase this title,” he wrote. Musumeci replied on the announcement post with “And the new,” the phrase used to introduce a new champion.
Who takes the belt that belonged to Mikey Musumeci: Jalen Fonacier or Kleber Barboza? Leave your opinion in the comments.
