Like many other athletes, Kade Ruotolo is helped by music as he prepares for action.

The ONE Lightweight Submission Grappling World Champion will switch sports to make his MMA debut against Blake Cooper at ONE 167: Stamp vs. Zamboanga on Friday, June 7, inside the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand, and he’s using every outlet he can think of to get fully pumped up. 

Kade Ruotolo trains BJJ with reggae music

Ruotolo is a big music fan, and he spoke about how his favorite genre affects his training in a recent interview with ONE.

“I love reggae music. My entire life, my parents grew us up on it. I’ve always just, kind of, been growing up in that style of music,” the grappling prodigy said. 

“I love the rhythm and the flow. It’s really easy to train jiu-jitsu to reggae because there’s a good rhythm, and you can honestly find yourself getting lost in the songs while training.”

The relaxed pace of reggae may help to get Ruotolo in the zone for grappling matches, but training tunes may need a bit more tempo for an MMA battle.

As such, the American superstar has been exploring other genres to accompany him in his preparation for Cooper. 

“The only times I’ve found myself changing it up is when I’m going in for MMA sparring. I’ll put on some rap or whatever, just to hype me up and get into kill mode,” Ruotolo said.

“But other than that, I’m just going in for jiu-jitsu, it’s mostly just good vibes, and I’m listening to reggae.”

Ruotolo combines the rhythm for the wins

Ruotolo remains undefeated across six outings in ONE Championship, and his MMA debut has been in the minds of the global fanbase for some time. 

The 21-year-old ground game expert will certainly face a difficult challenge when facing Cooper at ONE 167, but he believes music will get him where he wants to go.

“Music has a rhythm the same way fighting has rhythm. And if you’re not in rhythm, it always feels like the match isn’t going your way. I believe it can even start with music, just getting into your rhythm, and you can bring that into the match,” Ruotolo said.