"I want to entertain" - Kade Ruotolo vows to leave a lasting impression in MMA foray at ONE 167

ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo will dip his toes in the world of MMA for the very first time at ONE 167 on June 7.

His opponent will be Blake Cooper and while the submission grappling star would love nothing more than to get the victory, he also wants to give fans inside the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand a memorable encounter.

Speaking with ONE Championship, Ruotolo expounded on this goal and why he set such a high expectation for himself:

"Just like my jiu-jitsu matches, I want there to be more of a reason than just the win for people to watch my matches. I want people to be excited to be wowed, and I want to entertain. That's the goal on June 7."

Fans have certainly gotten used to Kade Ruotolo's dynamic performances inside the Circle since his promotional debut in mid-2022, though MMA is a whole different beast altogether because there is a real possibility that he could get caught with a knockout blow.

Kade Ruotolo confirms commitment to developing his striking for MMA debut

In response to those worried that Kade Ruotolo will be looking to just purely grapple with Cooper, the Atos product shared that he made the decision to put his Brazilian jiu-jitsu training on hold for now in favor of improving his striking.

Ruotolo made the reveal in a recent appearance on the Talk-Jitsu podcast:

"Recently, there's been a lot more striking [in training]; of course, and wrestling, things like that. It's not uncommon for us to take breaks in jiu-jitsu. We've always taken a lot of breaks in jiu-jitsu."

ONE 167 will air live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.