“He’s a huge rising star” - Adrian Lee says it’s "inevitable" he’ll cross paths with fellow undefeated prospect Kade Ruotolo 

Adrian Lee knows his path will cross with Kade Ruotolo's sooner rather than later in the world's largest martial arts organization.

The rise of Lee and Ruotolo has indeed breathed new life into the ONE lightweight MMA division. Interestingly, both prodigious talents recorded eerily similar victories in their respective foray in the 170-pound ranks.

As it stands, the two rising stars have each got off to a 3-0 start, with all those wins coming by way of impressive submissions.

Shortly after extending his pristine record at ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang last Sunday by taking out Takeharu Ogawa, Lee addressed a potential showdown with the reigning ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion.

'The Phenom' told the South China Morning Post in an exclusive interview:

"I definitely think a fight with Kade is kind of inevitable. He’s a huge other rising star in ONE Championship, and he has a big background in grappling. So I think that’s really pushing him. So I’m excited to fight him in the future."

After a perfect 6-0 run in all-grappling matches, Ruotolo made his long-awaited transition to mixed martial arts and quickly proved he meant business with spectacular wins over Blake Cooper, Ahmed Mujtaba, and Nicolas Vigna.

The full replay of ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang is available via watch.onefc.com

Watch Adrian Lee's full SCMP interview:

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Kade Ruotolo would love to fight Christian and Adrian Lee

Kade Ruotolo donned the four-ounce gloves with the intention of becoming an MMA world champion.

To do so, of course, he must dethrone one of the most storied champions in ONE Championship history, two-division kingpin Christian Lee.

Then again, it's pretty clear he must first go through 'The Warrior's younger brother Adrian Lee before coming close to a world title shot.

Ruotolo said in an earlier interview with The Bangkok Post:

"Either one of the Lees are going to be a great match, a great fight. And yeah, I think it's going to be inevitable here pretty soon. So I'll be seeing one of them across the ring from me for sure."