Kade Ruotolo and Mikey Musumeci are all set to take on each other in one of the most anticipated clashes of the year. The pair will lock horns at ONE 168: Denver on U.S. primetime on Friday, September 6, inside Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado. Ruotolo will be defending his ONE Lightweight Submission Grappling World title against ‘Darth Rigatoni.’ Already considered two of the best grapplers in the world. There is not much to choose between them at the moment. 

Before his title defence, 21-year-old Ruotolo spoke to ONE Championship about his upcoming fight. Right from the beginning, there is a lot of mutual respect between the pair, and Ruotolo feels it’s an honour to fight Musumeci. During the conversation, he said, “People were calling it one of the biggest super-fights in jiu-jitsu history. I was kinda surprised to hear that, but I was like, Wow. That’s really cool to hear. And hearing that, I was feeling a sense of responsibility. I’m like, Dude, this is one of the biggest fights in jiu-jitsu history.’ It’s just pretty crazy.” Let us take a closer look at what the pair has achieved in BJJ to date. 

Mikey Musumeci and Kade Ruotolo two of the biggest giants in BJJ 

Mikey Musumeci, before his move to the ONE Championship, had already made a name for himself in BJJ. The 28-year-old is a black belt under Gilberto ‘Durinho’ Burns and Jonatas ‘Tagarela’ Gurgel. His love for grappling started very early at the age of 4 and since then he has not looked back. Many even consider him the best American-born Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner in history. His long list of accolades in BJJ is a testament to the level of skill the 28-year-old has. 

Musumeci is a five-time IBJJF black belt World Champion(four times in GI and once in No-Gi). He also holds the record for being the first American to win more than one title at the IBJJF. Adding to the list, he is a four-time World Champion and also a Pan-American Champion in coloured belts. He currently holds the ONE Flyweight Submission Grappling World title in ONE Championship. His next opponent is also highly skilled and with equally impressive accolades in the sport. 

Kade Ruotolo was labelled a prodigy from a young age and he lived up to the expectations with some outstanding performances. Ruotolo won the IBJJF World Championship at the brown-belt level in 2021 and was soon promoted to black belt after that. In 2022, he won the ADCC World Championships and became the youngest-ever world champion in the event’s history. He is undefeated in seven appearances in ONE, which include his MMA debut at ONE 167 this past June, as well as winning and defending the ONE Lightweight Submission Grappling World Title. Despite such huge achievements, Ruotolo has nothing but respect for his next opponent and shared his honest opinion about facing him next. 

Kade Ruotolo has nothing but respect for his next opponent 

Since the time this fight has been announced, the fans have started picking their favourite. While some believe that Ruotolo holds the upper hand, others believe it’s Musumeci. The pair was last seen in action in the recently concluded ONE 167 event. Both fighters featured in the event with very different goals altogether. After dominating the grappling circuit, the 21-year-old participated in his first-ever MMA clash. However, despite it being his debut fight, Ruotolo proved too much to handle for Blake Cooper and won his fight in the first round. 

Musumeci, on the other hand, was desperate to settle the score with his old rival, Gabriel Sousa. The Brazilian defeated the American in the last fight, but ‘Darth Rigatoni’ made easy work of him this time round. After their respective fights, both athletes seemed highly excited about their face-off at ONE 168: Denver. The mutual respect between the pair is massive and, in a recent interview with Cage Side Press, Ruotolo shared his opinion about the 28-year-old. He said, “We got no bad vibes or anything like that. Just two technical athletes going at it.” 

Who are you rooting for at ONE 168: Denver? Let us know about it in the comments below.