Shock therapy!
UFC BJJ Bantamweight champion Mikey Musumeci has built his career around mangling legs, collecting heel hooks and turning the lower half of the human body into a complicated puzzle only he knows how to solve.
Unfortunately, none of that will be allowed when “Darth Rigatoni” moves up to Featherweight to face Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) contender Bryce Mitchell in UFC BJJ 11’s main event later tonight (Thurs., Sept. 24, 2026) inside Meta Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
That’s because
Mitchell previously labeled leg locks, pulling guard and “butt-scooting” as “gay,” arguing that those grappling tactics would be useless in a real-life self-defense situation. “Thug Nasty” also made it abundantly clear that he does not enjoy touching another man’s feet.
Mitchell’s rant eventually led to him challenging Musumeci, claiming he could defeat the decorated Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion under his own rules. Musumeci accepted, but also playfully agreed to remove the exact techniques Mitchell hates from their match.
Therefore, the two men have a gentlemen’s agreement: no leg locks and no intentionally pulling guard. If Musumeci happens to get taken down or lands on bottom during a scramble, however, he will be permitted to use his guard.
To prepare himself for Mitchell’s preferred version of “heterosexual” jiu-jitsu, Musumeci employed some fairly unorthodox — and possibly concerning — training methods.
“Leg locks are gay — guard pulls; if you’re butt-scooting, that’s gay,” Musumeci joked during UFC BJJ 11 media day. “But if you end up on the bottom by chance, you have to go there. You just have to, unfortunately.
“I had a good camp for this,” Musumeci continued. “I was getting zapped with a dog collar every day from the Tackett brothers if I ended up on bottom. They put a dog collar on me, and whenever I fell, they would press the button. So, whenever I see the floor, I see myself getting zapped, and psychologically, that does something to your brain.”
As if electrocuting one of the best grapplers on the planet wasn’t strange enough, Musumeci also underwent a little spiritual cleansing every time his back touched the mat.
“The dog collar was part of my camp, as was throwing holy water on me whenever I ended up on bottom to get the devil out of me,” Musumeci said. “So, we did some interesting methods this camp, and we’ve come to a great place. I feel really prepared from a spiritual and psychological standpoint.”
Musumeci is undefeated (4-0) inside UFC BJJ’s bowl, submitting all four of his opponents with three heel hooks and one foot lock. His Bantamweight championship will not be at stake because tonight’s crossover spectacle takes place one division higher.
Mitchell, meanwhile, is certainly no slouch on the ground. The UFC veteran has scored 10 submissions across his 19 professional mixed martial arts victories and recently submitted Santiago Luna with an arm-triangle choke (watch highlights). However, he was also submitted by heel hook during his appearance at Eddie Bravo Invitational (EBI) 25 last year — another reason removing leg locks tonight might be helpful.
Musumeci will now have to defeat Mitchell without his most dangerous weapons, without voluntarily accepting bottom position and with the lingering psychological threat of an imaginary dog collar wrapped around his neck.
Perfectly normal grappling stuff.
For complete UFC BJJ 11 results, coverage, and highlights click HERE.
