"It's a matchup that people want to see" - Kade Ruotolo glad to indulge fans' dream fight between him and Mikey Musumeci
Kade Ruotolo plans to continue building his ONE Championship resume by taking out fan favorite Mikey Musumeci.
Over the last two years, Ruotolo and Musumeci have been the frontrunners of ONE's expansion into submission grappling by becoming world champions with 6-0 records. They now look to separate themselves from the rest when 'Darth Rigatoni moves up to lightweight and challenges Ruotolo for his throne.
On September 5, Musumeci plans to become a two-division world champion by taking out Ruotolo at ONE 168. Heading into the must-see matchup, Ruotolo did an interview on the Talk-Jitsu Podcast and had this to say about why the match against Musumeci was booked:
"I love jiu-jitsu, I love my job and I'm down to fight anyone as often as possible. That definitely wasn't a match that I was asking for but it's a matchup that people want to see. A lot of people consider him as one of the pound-for-pound best, right? So that's what that they're gonna get."
Tickets for ONE 168, which goes down inside the Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, are on sale and can be found here.
Watch Kade Ruotolo's entire interview on the Talk-Jitsu Podcast below:
Kade Ruotolo has professional MMA debut scheduled before grappling match with Mikey Musumeci
Kade Ruotolo is preparing for more than an action-packed submission grappling match against Mikey Musumeci. On June 7, the 21-year-old phenom will make his highly-anticipated professional MMA debut in a ONE 167 matchup against Blake Cooper, the brother of Ray Cooper III.
Cooper made his ONE Championship debut in September 2023, suffering a first-round knockout loss against Maurice Abevi. He now looks to silence the doubters by spoiling Ruotolo's MMA debut.
ONE 167 will take place inside the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand. The event featuring two world title fights, including Stamp Fairtex vs Denice Zamboanga, can be seen live and for free by North American and Canadian viewers with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription.