ONE 168: Jarred Brooks Breaks Down Dream Fight Between Mikey Musumeci And Kade Ruotolo

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Newly crowned ONE Interim Strawweight MMA World Champion Jarred Brooks has added his first-hand perspective to the buzz surrounding the upcoming submission grappling dream match between Kade Ruotolo and Mikey Musumeci.

"The Monkey God" is fresh from a battle of his own, submitting Gustavo Balart inside one round for the interim strawweight MMA crown in the ONE Fight Night 24 main event. He also earned his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt in the process.

But the American superstar also has a unique viewpoint on the upcoming ONE Lightweight Submission Grappling World Title battle, having unsuccessfully challenged Musumeci for the flyweight submission grappling crown in 2023.

In a recent interview with SCMP MMA, the charismatic Brooks also noted that he has history with Ruotolo as well as his twin brother, ONE Welterweight Submission Grappling World Champion Tye Ruotolo.

"Kade, I love Kade. Me and Kade and Tye, we hung out almost the whole time when I was in Thailand, and I went against Mikey. I was watching a lot of their instructionals on how to get out of stuff, like what Mikey is doing and beating people with," he said.

Jarred Brooks appears to be leaning slightly toward Kade Ruotolo when the American superstar defends his ONE Lightweight Submission Grappling World Title against flyweight submission grappling king Mikey Musumeci at ONE 168: Denver.

The grappling afficionado's dream goes down on September 6 at the Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, in the United States, and Brooks has lifted the lid on how the bout may play out.

ONE 168: Denver marks the promotion's highly anticipated return to American soil for the first time since it's critically acclaimed debut in the continent, ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs. Moraes III in May 2023.

"It's a very interesting matchup. I do think that Kade has the advantage, just because he's used to competing at that weight. But another advantage that Mikey might have is that he is a smaller guy, which means that he is more technical and understands more holes than your average bigger guy," he said.

"Is Kade going to take him down? He might throw him on his head, I don't know, because Kade is a good wrestler. He has the ADCC title."