"I never declined a matchup" - Kade Ruotolo says he was always down to scrap with fellow champion Mikey Musumeci
Kade Ruotolo is used to having the spotlight on him from a very early stage in his submission grappling career.
Now, after achieving incredible success at just 21 years old, he's right at the forefront of the sport and that means breaking new ground.
His next contest under the ONE Championship banner is sure to do that by having one of the biggest match-ups out there featured on US soil.
With two of the best grapplers on the planet signed to the same promotion and only a few weight classes apart, lightweight champion Kade and flyweight champion Mikey Musumeci were always going to be asked questions about one another.
The two competitors have a lot of respect for one another but they will put this aside when Mikey moves up to lightweight to challenge Kade at ONE 168 in Denver.
Kade spoke about how this contest came together during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour where he said that he's agreed to it multiple times in the past but this time, everything fell into place:
"I think it was a match that was offered to me a couple of times in the past, and I always said yes. I never declined a match-up so any match-up that they wanna make, I'm always saying yeah."
Watch the full interview below:
Kade Ruotolo knows this is a huge moment
The dream grappling super fight between Kade Ruotolo and Mikey Musumeci isn't just a big moment for both men.
It's obviously a huge occasion for ONE Championship to be returning to the United States but it's a massive moment for submission grappling as a whole.
Two of the best in the world will be going head-to-head for the very first time at the Ball Arena on September 6.
With both men being incredible representatives for the sport, this is sure to be a real moment for submission grappling.
Tickets for ONE 168: Denver are available via Ticketmaster.