On record, Mikey Musumeci holds a 3 to 0 edge over Joao Miyao in their three recorded meetings. All three were finals, and all three went the distance rather than ending by submission. Two came in the gi and one in no-gi, which tells you these were close, points-and-advantage battles between two elite lightweight competitors.

The decisive detail is the method. Musumeci won two of the three on advantages and one on points, so nothing separated these men by a wide margin. The 2016 no-gi final at the 2016 World Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi IBJJF Championship went to points, while the 2016 gi meeting at the 2016 IBJJF American National Jiu-Jitsu Championship and the 2017 gi final at the 2017 World Jiu-Jitsu IBJJF Championship were both decided on advantages. When margins are that thin, small positional wins decide the whole match.

Their games sit close enough to make that possible. Miyao carries an 89% win rate across 234 recorded matches and finishes 48% of his wins, favoring the Gi Choke From Back. Musumeci sits at 92% across 65 recorded matches and finishes 53% of his wins, leaning on the Straight Ankle Lock. Both trace part of their development back to Rafael and Guilherme Mendes, which shows in how technical and detail-driven these finals were.