Kade Ruotolo shares how he grew to love mixed martial arts: “I knew I always wanted to fight MMA”

ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo knew at a young age that MMA was something he also wanted to do. He is just happy that he gets to live it out now under ONE Championship.

The 21-year-old grappling ace recently made his MMA debut at ONE 167: Tawanchai vs. Nattawut II on June 7 in Thailand and was impressive, defeating fellow American fighter Blake Cooper by submission (rear-naked choke) in the opening round.

In an interview on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Kade Ruotolo spoke about the multi-faceted sport of mixed martial arts, including how he also gravitated toward it, saying:

"I knew I always wanted to fight MMA since I was a kid, you know. Ever since watching MMA fights on the weekends with my grandparents. My grandpa, he used to always tell me, he goes, 'However much these guys will offer you to fight MMA, I'll pay you the same amount to not do it.' He never wanted me to get punched, but of course as a kid, it's only going to make you want to do it even more, right?"

He added:

"I feel like that's where the love for it started. Throughout my career, obviously I was just really focused on jiu-jitsu to make it to the top of jiu-jitsu, and to become the best in jiu-jitsu. Once I felt I got into the kind of like the top of the mountain in jiu-jitsu I felt comfortable to make that transition."

Watch the interview below:

In his MMA debut at ONE 167, Kade Ruotolo was steady. He first tested his striking and connected on solid kicks to Cooper.

From there he found his way back to his traditional lane of BJJ and capitalized on it to the hilt. He took down Cooper and worked on putting a rear-naked choke for the win at the 3:20 mark of the first round.

The win earned Ruotolo another $50,000 performance from ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong.

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Kade Ruotolo swings back to submission grappling in next fight

While his MMA journey under ONE Championship has taken flight, Kade Ruotolo returns to grappling in his next fight to defend his lightweight submission grappling world title.

The Atos standout will stake his title at ONE 168 in Denver, Colorado, U.S.A. on Sept. 6 against ONE flyweight submission grappling king Mikey Musumeci in an all-champion clash.

ONE 168: Denver will mark the fourth title defense of Kade Ruotolo of the championship belt he won in October 2022.

His most recent defense came in January in a rematch against Tommy Langaker of Norway, where he won by unanimous decision.