Video: Mikey Musumeci Explains Beef With Geo Martinez

On Saturday, July 17, Mikey Musumeci defeated Geo Martinez in a hard-earned and competitive victory at The Road to ADCC. Although there had been hints of tension between the two competitors in the lead up to the match, Musumeci’s post-match interview took many by surprise, as Musumeci berated Martinez’s character, said he does not respect him as a person, and said that Martinez does not deserve to be a black belt.

On Tuesday, FloGrappling released a clip of an interview with Musumeci, in which he explains his issues with Martinez and apologizes for what he said.

“I’m sorry to Geo for how I overreacted at the end… I wasn’t emotionally stable at that moment after the match,” said Musumeci.

More than just words, Musumeci took issue with a moment, early in the match, when the pair locked up in “mercy grips.”

“At the beginning when we did mercy grips, he bent my finger. My finger is all messed up from that match. That pissed me off because that was really dirty of him… During the match he just kept taunting me… I just got really upset with the hand thing and an overall accumulation of everything.”

Now a few days removed from the competition, Musumeci also dialed back some of his more inflammatory comments.

“I respect him so much for his jiu-jitsu. Does he deserve to be a black belt? Of course, he’s amazing, his jiu-jitsu. I was wrong how I behaved at the end. He was wrong with the finger sh*t and the stuff during the match. For sure. But we’re all human, we all make mistakes.”

Both Musumeci and Martinez are scheduled to compete in the 155-pound tournament at the Who’s Number One championships in September.

Ben Coate

Ben has been involved with grappling, whether through wrestling or Brazilian jiu-jitsu, essentially his entire life. After wrestling throughout his childhood, Ben found Brazilian jiu-jitsu as a young adult and quickly fell in love. He has been training for over ten years and holds the rank of black belt, and remains involved in both the MMA and BJJ scene. Ben has been writing about combat sports since 2017. He has interviewed and profiled some of MMA's biggest stars, including multiple UFC champions.

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