Reigning ADCC and ONE submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo spoke about his much-anticipated upcoming MMA debut.
Because the youngest-ever ADCC world champion and reigning ONE light-weight submission grappling world champion, 21-year-old phenom Kade Ruotolo has firmly established himself as one of many planet’s prime pound-for-pound BJJ rivals. It’s no small shock, then, that his upcoming MMA debut has garnered loads of consideration.
This Friday, June 7, at ONE 167, Ruotolo will lace up the 4-ounce gloves when he squares off with Hawaii’s Blake Cooper in a light-weight MMA tilt in Bangkok, Thailand.
Together with his ultra-aggressive, submission-hunting type of grappling, Ruotolo is perhaps probably the most entertaining athlete in all of BJJ. He plans to carry that very same electrifying method to the all-around sport of MMA.
“To be sincere with you, I need to give a present,” Ruotolo mentioned in an interview with ONE Championship. “I need to have enjoyable on the market. Clearly, I need to get the end and I really imagine that I’ll get that end. Similar to my jiu-jitsu matches, I would like there to be greater than a purpose than simply the win for folks to observe my matches. I would like folks to be excited, to be wowed, and I need to entertain.”
The Californian says that the transition from pure grappling to MMA has been a comparatively straightforward one because of the numerous fights through the years along with his twin brother, Tye Ruotolo.
Each Ruotolo brothers have dabbled in hanging coaching through the years, however Kade says that his aggression and fearlessness to commerce punches come from the battles along with his brother.
“Me and my brother would combat naked knuckle each single day, just about. We had been powerful and we form of had an concept find out how to throw punches so quite a lot of our coaches had been shocked to see the quantity of combat – not data – I’d say kind within the hanging. I believe they had been anticipating us to come back in as full jiu-jitsu guys and shocked lots of people to date and trying to shock lots of people on June 7.”
Certainly, Ruotolo’s best path to victory in opposition to the hard-hitting Cooper doubtless lies on the bottom. As a result of although Cooper is a talented grappler in his personal proper – a embellished collegiate wrestler – Ruotolo is a real generational expertise within the submission realm.
However the BJJ black belt is worked up to showcase rather more than simply his grappling expertise. He says {that a} lifetime of fights with Tye has ready him for this second:
“I simply know I cannot have a combat more durable than what I’ve gone via with my brother. I don’t suppose it’s attainable. I don’t know if it’s humanly attainable. My brother and I’ve executed what we’ve executed our whole lives. There’s instances the place we’re handfighting… and I say handfighting the place it’s mainly simply hanging, simply throat punch, exhausting as you possibly can collar-tie, and it goes on half-hour, generally an hour nonstop till one among us backs down. And for us, to again down is simply not an choice. Typically folks must separate us and we’re nonetheless there an hour straight – I didn’t cease! Constructing that psychological, I don’t suppose lots of people are ready to go these lengths.”
Now coaching underneath Tyler Wombles at Basic Combat Workforce and Erik Paulson at CSW Coaching Middle along with his common work at Atos Jiu-Jitsu, Ruotolo hopes to show heads at ONE 167.
Whereas the more than likely end result may look to be a Ruotolo submission win, he says followers is perhaps shocked by his hanging.
“An ideal night time is off the primary alternate, a knockout, proper? That may be the best-case state of affairs,” he mentioned. “I don’t suppose it’s not possible, for certain. I’ve been bettering a lot each single day and I’m assured wherever the combat goes.”
Methods to watch: Kade Ruotolo vs. Blake Cooper takes place on Friday, June 7 at ONE 167 and can air stay on Prime Video (free with Amazon Plus subscription) starting at 8:00 PM ET. Followers can tune in here.
