ONE Championship lightweight submission grappling champion Kade Ruotolo is set to face flyweight champion Mikey Musumeci in what promises to be a dynamic grappling match. The bout is scheduled for September 6th at ONE 168 in Denver, Colorado, marking ONE Championship’s return to the United States.
In a recent interview, Ruotolo shared his thoughts on the upcoming match, expressing surprise that the bout finally came to fruition. “I was surprised it happened, to be entirely honest,” Ruotolo admitted. “I still didn’t think it was gonna happen. I thought something was gonna happen down the line maybe.”
The young grappling phenom revealed that there had been three previous attempts to set up this match, all of which fell through despite his willingness to sign. This history of near-misses left Ruotolo skeptical until the bout was officially confirmed.
Interestingly, Ruotolo noted that he didn’t actively seek this matchup. “I didn’t call out Mikey. I’m never looking to fight the smaller opponent,” he explained. However, the widespread interest from fans, friends, and family ultimately swayed his decision. “I just want to give the people what they want to see,” Ruotolo stated.
Despite the competitive nature of their upcoming bout, Ruotolo and Musumeci maintain a friendly relationship. They’ve known each other for years, crossing paths at various competitions and sharing sponsors. Ruotolo emphasized that their grappling match wouldn’t affect their cordial relationship, drawing a distinction between grappling and MMA in terms of personal conflict.
“If it was MMA, it’d probably be a lot harder to take that matchup,” Ruotolo explained. “But when it comes to jiu-jitsu, it’s anyone in the world… Why not just do it for money?”
As for predictions, Ruotolo chose to keep fans in suspense, opting for a “cliffhanger” rather than forecasting the outcome.
Considering his reluctance to engage in guard play against Levi Jones Leary (LJL) it will be interesting to see what happens. Musumeci is much smaller than the -80kg CJI winner, and as such he’s almost certainly pulling guard and hoping to outclass Kade in leg entanglements. This will be the 2nd significant test for Kade in terms of leglock defense. Many spectators believe Ruotolo lost CJI finals against LJL due to reluctance he displayed while passing a dangerous leglocker such as LJL.
