Kade Ruotolo believes he'll one day compete for an MMA world title.
Currently, Ruotolo reigns as the ONE lightweight submission grappling world championship. Not content with dominating one sport, Ruotolo made his mixed martial arts debut at ONE 167 in June and delivered a jaw-dropping performance, scoring a first-round submission victory over Blake Cooper inside Impact Arena.
Returning to The Land of Smiles on Friday, Nov. 8, Ruotolo will attempt to go 2-0 in MMA when he meets former Pakistani MMA champion Ahmed Mujtaba at ONE 169.
Get the latest updates on One Championship Rankings at Sportskeeda and more
With a win over 'Wolverine' inside the legendary Lumpinee Stadium, Ruotolo will take one step closer toward adding another 26 pounds of gold to his collection, but the Atos Jiu-Jitsu star won't be rushing into anything—including an MMA title fight. In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Ruotolo said:
"Our coaches are really just big on the experience and that's the goal so really anyone aside from the champ and we’ll get there eventually".
Kade Ruotolo dreams of being one of the greatest martial artists of all time
Since he was a young boy, Kade Ruotolo has been training to be one of the best Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners on the planet.
The 21-year-old Ruotolo is already an ADCC world champion, a ONE world champion, and he topped the podium at the inaugural Craig Jones Invitational earlier this year. Still, that wasn't enough.
Ruotolo dreams of not just being a world-class grappler, but also one of the greatest martial artists alive:
"In order to be one of the best martial artists of all time, you got to do it all right, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, MMA, striking, boxing... All these different martial arts, you know?"
Ruotolo is already off to a hell of a start and he'll look to continue his journey at ONE 169 when he faces another tough test.
Fans in the United States and Canada can watch ONE 169: Malykhin vs. ‘Reug Reug’ live on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, Nov. 8 in U.S. primetime.