UFC BJJ
Shay Montague’s Idol Just Became His Rival
Scottish BJJ World Champion Says He’s Ready To Make A Huge Statement By Dethroning Mikey Musumeci at UFC BJJ 5
No-Gi BJJ world champion Shay Montague may have been inspired by Mikey Musumeci earlier in his martial arts journey, but now he arrives in Las Vegas looking to take his hero’s belt.
Scotland’s Montague is in Las Vegas for one of the biggest matches of his career, as the 2025 IBJJF world champion prepares to face reigning UFC BJJ bantamweight champion Musumeci for the title in the main event of UFC BJJ 5.
It’s a huge opportunity for Montague, who has already been blown away by the facilities at the Meta APEX and the UFC Performance Institute. Now he’s ready to put on a show inside the Bowl on his UFC BJJ debut.
“Coming in here, everything seems super professional. Seems really nice,” he told UFC.com.
“And I’m gobsmacked with some of the equipment you have! You have an altitude chamber that looks like something out of Space Odyssey! So yeah, I’m excited to be here (and) excited to put on a show and show my jiu-jitsu on a really big stage.
“It’s always one of my dreams to go out and have as many people as possible see you put on a good performance in jiu-jitsu, and that’s what’s going to happen on Thursday, I think.”
Montague admitted that he had a feeling the call to face Musumeci would come as soon as he noticed that both Musumeci and UFC BJJ Senior Director of Jiu-Jitsu Strategy & Business Development Claudia Gadelha had followed him on Instagram.
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“I think when you're a smaller grappler, your whole career, in a way, is building (up) to facing Mikey, especially when you’re a roosterweight,” he said.
“It’s something people talk about from the moment you become a black belt and start to do OK (in competition). So I thought it’s gonna happen at some stage. And then, (after) winning the No-Gi worlds, it seemed like maybe one of the more natural progressions.
“Then Claudia and Mikey followed me in succession of like 10 minutes on Instagram. And I remember I sent into the boys’ group chat. I was like, ‘These two just followed me. I think they’re gonna ask me to face Mikey.’
“Then they were like, ‘Do you want to face Mikey?’ and I was like ‘Sure! Let’s do it! Sounds like a fun match!’”
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As matchups go, they really don’t get much bigger for Montague, who captured No-Gi IBJJF gold in the European Championships, then the World Championships in 2025. Now he is ready to kick off 2026 with a match against Musumeci for the UFC BJJ bantamweight title.
While some contenders might prefer a tune-up match to get acclimated to the new surroundings of the Bowl, Montague is ready to take the bull by the horns and jump straight in for the title on his UFC BJJ debut.
“You’re right in at the top straight away, but that’s the level I think I belong at,” he stated.
Shay Montague Pre-Match Interview | UFC BJJ 5
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Shay Montague Pre-Match Interview | UFC BJJ 5
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“I think these tournaments that are outside the UFC are super high-level too. You're competing against some of the best people in the world.
So, even for just a UFC fan, it might be like, ‘Oh, we've not seen this guy compete before. He maybe shouldn't be here.’ Anyone that knows jiu-jitsu knows that the tournaments like, the IBJJF, that scene, everyone you’re facing is so, so good. You’re facing good person after good person, so it might seem like a jump (to face Mikey) but I’m more than ready for that.”
For Montague, facing Musumeci is the chance to test his skills against one of the greatest to ever do it in his weight class. The Scot admitted that he’s looked up to “Darth Rigatoni” from his own early days in BJJ, and said that he’s thrilled to be able to put his wits against someone who has been a big influence on his development as a grappler.
WATCH: Every UFC BJJ Submission
“I think that all smaller grapplers probably owe Mikey at least some technical debt, right?” he suggested.
“I think I was a white belt, and I remember watching his black belt debut against one of the Miyao brothers at the American nationals. I remember watching, and you can hear his dad screaming something like, ‘That's my son!’ when he wins, you know? I remember this from being a white belt.
“I’ve watched his game through all the years. I can remember in those series of matches with the Miyaos, he did a Choi bar into the De La Riva, you know? And this is a move I still do now. So I think, to face somebody that, in a way, was formative in developing your own jiu-jitsu game, it’s super cool.
“It's the most cliched saying in the world, right? You keep training and keep trying until your idols become your rivals. And this is literally one of those people I’ve looked up to since I was a white belt. So it's super exciting to be here, you know? Super exciting. And maybe afterwards I can take him for a beer (and) he can take me for some pasta!”
RELATED: Entertaining Musumeci
The UFC BJJ audience is a growing fanbase, with a healthy mix of seasoned grappling fans, plus a number of UFC fans who have been intrigued by the elite skills of the world’s top submission specialists. Montague admitted that his style might look a little out of the ordinary to those who have only really experienced watching grappling under MMA rules, but said that he has some special tricks up his sleeve that he hopes will entertain fans new and old this week.
“My style is probably the sort of style that's most alien to somebody that watches lots of UFC,” he explained.
“It’s influenced heavily by sports jiu-jitsu and my flexibility and stuff. But hopefully, if you start to watch it, it can become more exciting than the style that's more familiar in MMA. Often, when you roll with an MMA fighter, they sit on their knees; they don't really do much. They're trying to be super negative. Whereas when you roll with somebody that's really good at sports jiu-jitsu, it's super open (and) fluid. There's lots of movement going on.
“So, even though you see less of the wrestling scrambles and stuff that are immediately accessible to somebody that watches MMA, once you get into sports jiu-jitsu, I think you can see some really fluid movements. You can see some things that are like, super cool, almost beautiful in their own way. Obviously, this depends a lot on your level compared to your opponent’s. Sometimes you can cancel each other out, but hopefully I can show a few beautiful moves and then a cool submission on Thursday. That’d be nice!”
Watch UFC BJJ Live And Free, Thursday Feb. 12
Montague knows how to win on the big stage, but defeating Musumeci would add another feather to the Scottish grappler’s cap. And, as he explained, his key to success in the Bowl on Thursday night is simple – just back himself and trust in his skills.
“I think just trust in my jiu-jitsu, and try to attack as much as possible (and) not respect too much the things that he's gonna do. Just try and attack and take him out of his comfort zone,” he said.
“I don't know if he's ever lost this weight since he's been a black belt. So it'll be super nice to go out there and put on a show and be the first person to do it. That'd be a massive statement, right?”