Kade Ruotolo acknowledges Mikey Musumeci as "pound-for-pound one of the greatest" ahead of ONE 168 clash
Kade Ruotolo is gearing up for his biggest submission grappling contest under the ONE Championship banner to date.
The promotion currently has four world champions in the sport with Kade and his twin brother Tye occupying two of the other spots.
There's no denying that the ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion is one of the very best in the world right now.
However, two weight classes below him is a competitor that has been taking on the best for a long time at this stage.
At ONE 168 in Denver, flyweight king Mikey Musumeci will move up two weight classes to compete in a grappling super fight for the ages.
As shown at ONE 167 where the two men interacted inside the Circle after they both secured big wins, there's a lot of mutual respect between them.
Kade previewed the contest during a recent podcast interview with MMA great Demetrious Johnson on the MightyCast where he spoke about his motivation for wanting to compete with 'Darth Rigatoni':
"Again, it's just another one to put on the record. Mikey, a lot of people consider him pound-for-pound one of the greatest. He's had a lot of amazing wins over a lot of amazing people."
Watch the full interview below:
Kade Ruotolo is excited to be a part of this moment
The clash between Kade Ruotolo and Mikey Musumeci isn't just one of the best grappling matches that could be put together right now.
It's the culmination of ONE Championship's investment in submission grappling and a huge sign of how far the sport has come.
To have two clean athletes that are still at the top of their games competing on this kind of stage is simply unheard of in the grappling world.
Kade and Mikey will look to set the bar high in this dream clash between two of the very best in the world.
ONE 168 will air live at US prime time from the Ball Arena in Denver on September 6.
US and Canadian fans can also rewatch all the action from ONE 167 via the free event replay on Prime Video.