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At ONE 167, Kade Ruotolo is gearing up to take the first major step on a new and exciting path in his career.
The ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion has proven himself to be one of the very best in his sport at just 21 years old.
With a ONE world championship and ADCC win already under his belt, it's not surprising that he is already looking for new and exciting challenges.
One of them immediately jumps to mind for the champ and that's MMA, something he has spoken about a lot in recent years.
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On June 7, Kade Ruotolo will finally make that leap as he makes his highly anticipated MMA debut against Blake Cooper in lightweight action.
When you watch either Ruotolo brother compete in grappling, it's easy to see how their style might transition to MMA but of course, the big challenge is striking and that's something that he has spoken very confidently about.
Despite this, ONE strawweight contender Lito Adiwang said that he believes the elite grappler will play to his strengths in MMA by taking the fight to the floor:
"He just really needs to avoid getting into a slugfest on the feet. I think he won't get into striking exchanges. Once they get to the ground, that's where I'm most interested to see how he'll approach this."
Kade Ruotolo can't afford to forget his greatest strength
Kade Ruotolo has been putting a lot of time into his striking in recent times ahead of his MMA debut.
This is obviously an important step to make if he wants to be a versatile mixed martial artist who can compete in all aspects of the sport.
However, there is no hiding the fact that there is only a very small amount of competitors in MMA that will be able to hang with him on the ground.
Showcasing his overall game will be very valuable for Kade but, his grappling should always be the backbone of everything he does.
ONE 167 will air live from the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand, on June 7. North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription can catch the entire event for free.
