"I would love to try and drop my opponent" - Kade Ruotolo says he'd like nothing more than a knockout vs. Blake Cooper

ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo would love to wrap things up early in his professional MMA bow at ONE 167 on June 7. However, he would prefer not to achieve it via submission.

The ground game technician tests himself in the all-encompassing discipline in a lightweight fixture against Hawaii native Blake Cooper, which emanates live from the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.

Though he will have plenty of submission maneuvers awaiting Cooper when they tango inside the Thai capital city, the Atos representative has been growing confident in his striking. He hopes that newfound knowledge can steer him to a statement win next week.

During a recent chat with Karyn Bryant, the California native discussed how he sees this fight unfolding and why he'd prefer to momentarily abandon his world-class jiu-jitsu game in MMA.

Kade Ruotolo said:

"Obviously, my forte, my strong suit is jiu-jitsu. So, obviously, the plan is to go in there and submit him without a doubt. I think that kind of goes without saying. But I would love to try to drop my opponent, and maybe even sleep them, you know. I would love it."

Watch the full interview here:

While many are under the assumption that he would have his work cut out on the feet, the world of striking isn't something entirely new to the submission wizard.

Before venturing into the BJJ realm, Kade and his twin brother Tye did pick up Muay Thai as kids.

More recently, after his victory over Tommy Langaker at ONE Fight Night 11, he worked on his stand-up arsenal alongside ONE interim featherweight kickboxing world champion Superbon at his gym in Bangkok.

---

Kade Ruotolo says prep for MMA debut has "been smooth"

With someone of Blake Cooper's caliber awaiting him, Kade Ruotolo has no room for slacking at ONE 167.

Thankfully, per the ONE world champion, everything has been falling into place perfectly as he looks to get things off to a flyer when he opens his MMA account on June 7.

In the same interview, he added:

"So, you know, in this camp, it's been smooth. I've just been so pleased with my progression every single day. My coaches and everyone around me have been super stoked for it, my debut."

Active Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North America can catch the entire card live in U.S. primetime for free.