Demetrious Johnson blown away by Kade Ruotolo's insane athleticism and body control: "It's very unique"

ONE 167 kicked off a new and exciting chapter in the career of Kade Ruotolo. The ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion is one of the best jiu-jitsu competitors in the world today at just 21 years old.

However, ever since he first stepped foot in ONE Championship, there has been another passion of his that he wanted to fulfill.

Kade grew up watching MMA and doesn't back down from a fight so competing in this field is something that attracted him massively. He finally made this leap on June 7 where a first-round submission win over Blake Cooper earned him a debut victory in MMA.

Before June 7 at the Impact Arena, he got some training in with one of the best of all time, the ONE flyweight world champion Demetrious Johnson.

In a podcast interview on the MightyCast after their training session, Johnson spoke about the aspect of training with the Ruotolo twins that he was most impressed by:

"I would say the one thing that impressed me when I was training with you is your athleticism and the way your body moves. You were completely turning away from me and you're using leverage against me and it was able to get you out. Credit that you are bigger than me, but I did the same thing to your brother and I was like, 'Wow, it's very unique'."

Watch the full podcast interview below:

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Kade Ruotolo has the world at his feet

If it wasn't already clear from what he has achieved inside the Circle or the words from Demetrious Johnson, Kade Ruotolo is a special athlete. His debut win over Blake Cooper in MMA was just the start of something that has the potential to be very special.

Of course, he's also making this switch whilst still competing at the very highest level in submission grappling as the ONE lightweight champion.

To rewatch his MMA debut, North American viewers with an active Prime Video subscription can check out the full replay of ONE 167.