“About time!” - Fans can’t wait for lightweight submission grappling champ Kade Ruotolo’s impending MMA debut at ONE 167

Fans are counting the days until American submission grappling ace Kade Ruotolo makes his long-awaited debut in mixed martial arts. Some have taken to social media to express their varying takes on it.

21-year-old Ruotolo, the reigning ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion, will make his maiden MMA outing at ONE 167: Tawanchai vs. Nattawut on June 7 at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand. He will take on fellow American Blake Cooper in a three-round lightweight duel.

It is part of the stacked event which will be available live and for free in U.S. primetime to North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription.

ONE Championship recently shared a poster of the MMA clash on its official Instagram page and fans took turns making their thoughts known.

The comments range from expressing their excitement to rooting for Kade Ruotolo to hyping the contest as a sure-fire barnburner.

Below are screenshots of the fans' comments on Instagram:

Fans' Instagram reactions

ONE 167 is the realization of Kade Ruotolo's long-sought goal of competing as well in MMA after dominating submission grappling as a decorated BJJ athlete and ONE champion.

Out to clip the Atos standout is Cooper, who is looking to bounce back after losing in his promotional debut back in September.

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Kade Ruotolo contemplating of dropping afro look for MMA debut

Long sported an afro look while competiting in BJJ, Kade Ruotolo is thinking of sporting a different appearance when he plunges into his first MMA match on June 7 at ONE 167 in Thailand.

The ONE lightweight submission grappling wolrd champion shared this in an interview with Karyn Bryant on YouTube, highlighting that he has been having conversations with his team on whether to stick with the afro look or braid his hair for strategic purposes.

Kade Ruotolo said:

"It's just funny because we've been going back and forth about that, because obviously, my entire life I've trained and I've competed with this hair out and, you know, Pat, my sensei, he's the man, he's always like, 'No, you gotta braid it, dude. You gonna make every punch look like a big shot.' And I'm like. 'That's a good point.'"

He went on to say:

"But at the same time, my other coach, Tyler, he's all, 'Man, it's not matter, you're not gonna need to braid it.' So, you know, I got both sides. I don't even know what to do at this point. We'll see what ends up happening."

Watch the interview below:

Ruotolo came on board ONE Championship in 2022 and his afro look has been prominent much like how he has lorded it over his opponent, going 6-0 so far.