While Kade
Ruotolo will make his mixed martial arts debut Friday, he is no
stranger to fist fighting, having grown up with twin brother
Tye
Ruotolo.
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Ruotolo is scheduled to make his MMA debut against Blake
Cooper (2-1) at
ONE 167 on June 7 in Bangkok. Having been in regular
bare-knuckle fights with his brother since a young age, the elite
jiu-jitsu practitioner claims to have picked up on the striking
aspect of MMA with ease. While preparing for his upcoming fight,
Ruotolo has already surprised a lot of people who were expecting
him to come in as a pure jiu-jitsu practitioner and plans to
surprise many more.
“It’s kind of a hard question to say that exactly. When we were
growing up – it wasn’t at a very high level, it was at our
jiu-jitsu gym for around two years when we were around the age of
13, give or take. We did about two years of Muay Thai, so we had an
idea of how to throw a kick, how to throw a punch, things like
that,” Ruotolo said. “It wasn’t like we were just full jiu-jitsu
guys. We had an idea of how to strike. On top of that, me and my
brother would fight bare knuckle every single day, pretty
much.”
“We were tough, and we kind of had an idea how to throw punches, so
a lot of our coaches were surprised to see the amount of fight, not
knowledge, but I’d say form in the striking. I think they were
expecting us to come in as full jiu-jitsu guys. We’ve surprised a
lot of people so far, and I’m looking to surprise a lot of people
on June 7.”
Apart from basic striking, Ruotolo has also benefitted mentally by
training with his brother. Fierce competitors since the age of 3,
the Ruotolo brothers are used to long, nasty jiu-jitsu
sessions.
“I just know I will not have a fight tougher than what I’ve gone
through with my brother. I don’t think it’s possible. I don’t know
if it’s humanly possible. My brother and I have done what we’ve
done our entire lives. There are times when we’re hand fighting,
and I say hand fighting, where it’s basically just striking, just
throat punch, hard as you can collar-tie, and it goes on for 30
minutes, sometimes an hour nonstop until one of us backs down. And
for us, to back down is just not an option. Sometimes, people have
to separate us, and we’re still there an hour straight. I didn’t
stop. Building that mental strength, I don’t think a lot of people
are prepared to go those lengths.”