Kade Ruotolo shares how his parents felt in his nerve-wracking MMA debut: "My mom was a bit more nervous"

BJJ specialist Kade Ruotolo recently recalled exactly how nervous his mom felt when he made his MMA debut at ONE 167.

In general, most parents fear that their kids could get seriously hurt when they get into a fight.

Although Kade's mom has a great amount of experience watching her twin sons compete against the best jiu-jitsu practitioners in the world, the idea that Kade would be exposed to far more serious injuries than broken bones, was a lot more than she could handle.

Recalling his parents' reaction to watching his first MMA gig in ONE Championship, Kade said on The MMA Hour:

"My dad was super excited for me, my dad's an old-school, he's a manly man, so he's ready 'go kill this guy.' He was confident through and through. My mom was a bit more nervous, she kept just going, "I don't think I'll be able to watch.'

Ruotolo continued:

I've never heard her say that, for all my jiu-jitsu classes. She's like, 'break his arm!' She's all extra. But for the first time ever, I have seen my mom scared for me, that's pretty interesting to see that."

Watch ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo score his first MMA submission via a rear-naked-choke against Blake Cooper below:

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"Couldn't have done it without them" - Kade Ruotolo thanks his corner for MMA success as he shifts focus to grappling for Mikey Musumeci brawl

As Kade Ruotolo knows, his MMA victory isn't only his to celebrate alone. The 21-year-old superstar thanked his team recently for helping him make the transition from BJJ to MMA smoothly.

He hopes to continue evolving and improving his craft through the Atos and Classic Fight Team gyms in California. On Instagram, Kade tagged them on Instagram with the following caption below:

"I have the world's best corner/team I could possibly ask for. Couldn't have done it without them @erikpaulson@classicfightteam@galvaobjj@tyruotolo So blessed."

Now, Kade returns to the grappling world with feeling more zealous than ever to defend his ONE lightweight submission grappling world title against fellow world-grappler Mikey Musumeci. They will meet for the first time in their home country of the US to determine the No.1 lightweight in the world.

ONE 168: Denver will air live from inside The Ball Arena in Colorado on September 6 for Prime Video subscribers in Canada and the US.