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Reigning ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo thinks that being a black belter in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu doesn't guarantee that an athlete is top-tier.
According to Ruotolo, belts are not the identifier of a winner in a certain grappling match because it still depends on the skills and execution of a practitioner.
The Atos representative shared this hot take on his recent appearance on the Jaxxon Podcast, where he claimed:
"Not all black belts are created equal. You see it the other way around too. Russians are like blue belts but are choking everybody, right? It's like catch-22, that one."
Despite this statement, Kade has lived up to his black belt title because he has won multiple BJJ tournaments and became the inaugural world title holder in the lightweight submission grappling division of ONE Championship.
Kade Ruotolo currently rides a hot streak of six straight victories under the world's largest martial arts organization and has compiled a stacked hit list that includes Matheus Gabriel, Shinya Aoki, Uali Kurzhev, Matheus Gabriel and Tommy Langaker.
His most recent victim was Francisco Lo, whom he submitted on April 5 at ONE Fight Night 21 via his patented 'Ruotolo-tine' technique during their catchweight grappling match, which also awarded him an additional $50,000 performance bonus from ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong.
Kade Ruotolo will face Blake Cooper for his MMA debut on June 7 at ONE 167
After sweeping all his assignments in the submission grappling matches, Kade Ruotolo is now ready for his mixed martial arts debut on June 7 against Blake Cooper as part of the stacked ONE 167 card that will go down inside the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.
The 21-year-old BJJ phenom believes that most of the contenders in the lightweight MMA division are not ready for his elite-level grappling skills and aggressive approach that he would bring to the weight class.
ONE 167 is available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America in U.S. primetime on June 7. The card will emanate from the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.
