"A GOAT of jiu-jitsu" - Kade Ruotolo honored to duel fellow 'young legend' Mikey Musumeci at ONE 168

Kade Ruotolo is looking forward to ticking something off of his bucket list that has been on the table since he arrived at ONE Championship. Both he and his brother have been crucial to the promotion's progression into submission grappling.

As two reigning world champions, they have become a regular fixture of some big events and the next massive card of the year is no different. Alongside them, another flag bearer for submission grappling in the promotion has been flyweight king Mikey Musumeci.

With ONE's return to the United States being the perfect platform for a dream clash of this kind, 'Darth Rigatoni' agreed to move up several weight classes to challenge Kade for his lightweight title.

It's a meeting of two of the best in the world and whilst Kade has accomplished so much in such a short amount of time, Musumeci has been on top for many years.

The lightweight submission grappling champion spoke in a recent interview with ONE Championship about what this match-up means to him:

"May people consider [Musumeci] a GOAT of jiu-jitsu, one of the greatest. He's definitely a legend of the sport. So any time you get to share the mat with a legend, it's a great thing. It's an awesome experience."

Kade Ruotolo is preparing to make a big change in his career

Whilst maintaining his grip over the lightweight grappling division, Kade Ruotolo has been going through some interesting times in his career.

After speaking about it for a long time, he made his pro-MMA debut at ONE 167 and is itching to get back in there already.

As he plans to shift his primary focus from grappling to mixed martial arts, this is a perfect contest to mark that evolution in his career.

Kade could secure one of his biggest-ever wins at the Ball Arena in Denver on Sept. 6 before taking somewhat of a step back from submission grappling, at least for a while.

Tickets for ONE 168: Denver are available via Ticketmaster.