ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo is fresh off his inaugural outing in mixed martial arts, and he feels the transition to the all-encompassing sport has only made him better.
The American sensation is preparing to defend his world title against flyweight submission grappling king Mikey Musumeci at ONE 168: Denver, on Saturday, September 7 in Denver, Colorado. It’s the biggest fight card in the promotion’s history, and Ruotolo says he’s never felt better about his weaponry.
Ruotolo debuted in MMA at ONE 167 this past June and scored a first-round submission win over his compatriot Blake Cooper. Though it was short, he believes he took a lot away from the match when it comes to his all-round strength.
“I feel a bit invincible as far as, like, a toughness scale. When you start taking punches and knees and elbows, it’s just like jiu-jitsu becomes so easy – or easier,” Ruotolo boasted.
“Those accidental kicks or that collar tie that slaps you in the face or whatever, it’s nothing compared to MMA. I think it’s tougher.”
Coming into the all-encompassing sport with such a specialised repertoire, Ruotolo could have faced an uphill battle against Cooper.
However, the talented 21-year-old trained with mixed martial artists ahead of their tie, so he felt confident he could gauge his opponent’s movements.
On top of that, Ruotolo worked out what to exploit and went hunting for it right from the opening bell, which ultimately led to the early victory.
“I’d say most MMA fighters aren’t too fond of fighting off their back. And, if they are, it’s very old-school, traditional, you know, Lucas Lepri half-guard kind of things to get up, he said.
“In MMA, you don’t want to be rolling as much, taking as much risk, because you really don’t want to be on bottom. It really sucks to get turned over and all the work you put in to get on top in the match just goes away. So I think that’s a little bit more of a presence than in jiu-jitsu.
“You’re not really seeing any MMA fighters use those guards that we see on an everyday basis in sport jiu-jitsu … De La Riva and X-guard, and things like that.”
