"One that I hold dearly" - Kade Ruotolo describes ONE gold as a crowning achievement in his career
Brazilian jiu-jitsu wizard Kade Ruotolo has accomplished a whole career's worth of accolades by the age of just 21 years old. Despite being so early in his career, he has already proven himself to be one of the very best grapplers in the world today.
Both he and his brother Tye have continued to go from strength to strength in recent years after both men put in great performances at the 2022 ADCC.
With Kade Ruotolo going on to win the tournament, he also secured the ONE lightweight submission grappling world championship in the year.
Having defended the belt multiple times with dominant performances, as Tye holds the welterweight title, Kade's reign has been nothing short of undeniable.
Through everything that he has already ticked off the career bucket list, Kade recently stated that the ONE Championship belt is his most cherished.
The world champion told Karyn Bryant in a recent interview that the ONE gold stands out amongst the rest:
"My ONE Championship belt is the one that I hold dearly to me."
Watch the full interview below:
The ONE Championship gold is set to wait on the shelf for Kade Ruotolo
Throughout his title reign as the ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion, Kade Ruotolo has spoken about competing in a different rule set that would provide an entirely new challenge.
At ONE 167, he hands up the lightweight strap for the time being in order to make his long awaited MMA debut, which gets underway in the lightweight ranks.
Kade is always going to be one of the best of the best in submission grappling but now he faces a new goal which he isn't short on motivation for.
On June 7 at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, he will look to get off to a strong start by taking on Blake Cooper.
ONE 167 will air live from the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand on June 7. Active Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North American can catch the entire card for free live in U.S. primetime.