"The biggest submission grappling match of all time" - Kade Ruotolo on magnitude of his Denver super fight with Mikey Musumeci

ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo is getting ready to have a date with destiny as he defends his spot atop the mountain against Mikey Musumeci at ONE 168: Denver on September 6 inside the Ball Arena.

In a recent interview with Bloody Elbow, Ruotolo opened up about the fans' expectations of him going toe-to-toe with the reigning ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion.

The 21-year-old training out of Atos from San Diego, California, said:

"I think it's pretty safe to say, it's the biggest submission grappling match of all time. I keep hearing it from other people. That's pretty cool to hear. It's super rad."

Aside from 26 pounds of ONE Championship gold being on the line, what makes their upcoming world title tilt even more interesting is that they both possess undefeated 7-0 records under the ONE banner.

Despite their overwhelming dominance over their previous opponents, Ruotolo and Musumeci's encounter at ONE 168: Denver will result in one of them tasting defeat for the very first time on the global stage.

---

Mikey Musumeci opens up about training camp woes ahead of Kade Ruotolo megafight

Moving up three divisions to challenge Kade Ruotolo for the ONE lightweight submission grappling world championship has taken its toll on Mikey Musumeci during training camp.

Still, 'Darth Rigatoni' knows it is a necessary sacrifice in his quest for two-division dominance.

Speaking to ONE Championship, the Cobrinha BJJ and Evolve MMA product said:

"It's very difficult recovering when I'm training at this intensity — and I need to for lightweight because it's more power. But the recovery is killing me a bit. So, I'm really working hard to figure out how I could recover so I could keep doing this type of volume training."

Tickets for ONE 168: Denver are available via Ticketmaster.