Kade Ruotolo says he’s ‘checking all the boxes’ in training ahead of highly-anticipated MMA debut at ONE 167

ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo made an excellent showing at ONE Fight Night 21 last week. The 21-year-old BJJ phenom debuted a new submission hold, the "Ruotolo-tine", on Francisco Lo to earn the tap in their 180-pound catchweight submission grappling bout.

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After the win and collecting another $50,000 performance bonus from ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong, Ruotolo announced a shocker: he will compete in MMA for the first time in his career.

At ONE 167 on June 7th, we will see one of the greatest generational talents in submission grappling today fight fellow American fighter Blake Cooper in a full-on MMA battle.

Speaking to ONE Championship, the young Ruotolo let us in on how prepared he is for this upcoming challenge:

“I just want to stay as active as possible and check all the boxes. MMA, jiu-jitsu, and everything else after that may come with it.”

Kade Ruotolo understands the task ahead of him against Blake Cooper

Kade Ruotolo spoke about his upcoming opponent, Blake Cooper, ahead of their bout inside the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand. Cooper is currently 2-1 and has lost his ONE debut against Maurice Abevi back in September last year.

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Despite Cooper coming off of a loss, the young submission grappling world champion is not taking his upcoming foe lightly:

“I’ve already watched his last ONE Championship performance. I’m definitely not taking anybody lightly. He has some heavy hands and good wrestling. He’s a scrapper. Anyone from Hawaii is a scrapper. I know that for sure, so I’m excited.”

Well, he is not wrong about Hawaiians being some of the most exciting scrappers in MMA today. If Kade Ruotolo brings his scrappy, explosive style in submission grappling and translates it to MMA, then we're in for an all-out war on this one.

The replay of ONE Fight Night 21 and the live stream of the upcoming ONE 167 card are available on demand for Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.