"Trusting in my abilities" - Kade Ruotolo highlights the main factor that let to his crushing win over Ahmed Mujtaba at ONE 169

Kade Ruotolo is continuing to take crucial steps during his transition into become a mixed martial artist. The elite submission grappler said before his return at ONE 169 that gaining more experience was his primary focus, and that paid off for him on Nov. 8.

Kade's MMA debut earlier this year at ONE 167 showed that he was an exciting talent with lots to work on after admitting that he couldn't quite find his timing or confidence on the feet.

This wasn't the case in his second outing where he faced Ahmed Mujtaba at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

The ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion showed how far he has come in such a short time, committed to his striking, and earned another first-round finish after dropping his opponent.

During the post-event press conference, Kade Ruotolo spoke about the key factors in his impressive submission win:

"I think the main thing was just really trusting in my abilities. I think in the debut, it was a little bit of an unknown, and this time around my confidence and everything was there, along with the intent to really bring it out."

Watch the full post-event press conference below:

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Kade Ruotolo is clearly on the right path

The difference between his first and second MMA fights shows that Kade Ruotolo is walking down the right path.

He has already been able to look at and analyze where he could have done better the first time around and implement that in his next outing.

This confidence is only going to continue growing with the experience that he accumulates, especially if he's able to keep finishing opponents in style.

Kade is taking things step-by-step and being smart in his evolution but his win over Mujtaba showed that he is making leaps in between fights which is a very exciting trend.