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Former IBJJF World and Pans No-Gi champion and former ONE flyweight submission grappling world title challenger Osamah Almarwai is set to fight at ONE's first+ever event in the Middle East, ONE 166: Qatar.
Almarwai, who is the first athlete from the Middle East to become the first Brazilian Jiu-jitsu world champion, will lock horns with Cleber Sousa, a former ONE world title challenger himself. Performing in front of his home crowd and with high stakes on the line, Osamah Almarwai will look to get back into world title contention by coming home with a big win.
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Speaking to ONE Championship, Almarwai gave us a little bit of a sneak peek into what he's been working on in preparation for Sousa:
“I’m doing a lot of wrestling, and I feel wrestling has improved my jiu-jitsu, my mindset, and my conditioning so much. Like I do wrestling with wrestlers, you know, like a wrestling class, just pure wrestling. And they push you. I’ve never been pushed like this.”
Wrestling is known to be one of the hardest, most intense combat sports in the world. We believe Almarwai when he says he's being pushed harder than ever during this fight camp.
Osamah Almarwai says fighting Mikey Musumeci in the past helped him improve his leglock defense
Osamah Almarwai debuted his ONE Championship in a failed world title challenge against his division's reigning king, Mikey Musumeci. Fully aware that Musumeci is one of the most lethal leglock masters in the game, Almarwai successfully safeguarded his lower limbs against 'Darth Rigatoni'.
This plan wasn't enough, however, as Musumeci ingeniously found his way to Almarwai's back and choked him with a right rear-naked choke. Still, the Yemeni-born submission grappling athlete saw the loss as an opportunity to learn and improve his skills.
He told ONE:
“It may not have showed in the match, but my leg lock defense improved a lot. I mean, it didn’t work against Mikey – obviously he wasn’t getting me with leg locks. But in other matches, when I go against people in the gym or other matches, I feel my leg lock game defense improved. So I have to look at the brighter picture.”
Catch Osamah Almarwai tangle with Cleber Sousa at ONE 166: Qatar, which will air live on March 1 via global pay-per-view on watch.onefc.com.
