Nothing but the 'Truth': 5 questions with top Bellator prospect Ed Ruth
Over the past five years, Ed Ruth has gone from three-time NCAA wrestling champion to Olympic hopeful to blue-chip MMA prospect.
He's not planning to dial down his breakneck pace anytime soon.
"Truth" will compete in his third professional fight in five months when he meets late-notice replacement David Mundell in the preliminary portion of Bellator 178 in Uncasville, Conn., on Friday.
Amid the Penn State alumnus' whirlwind introduction to MMA, Ruth took some time to talk to theScore and answer a handful of questions before he attempts to continue his undefeated run inside the cage:
One of your first brushes with MMA involved working with Jon Jones to prepare him for a fight with Daniel Cormier. How did that situation affect your decision to try professional fighting?
That's really what introduced me to it. You know, (former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman's) foundation was wrestling, Jones' foundation was wrestling, so was Cormier's, and I was like, "Man, all these guys are wrestlers, what am I doing? Why don't I fight?" I love fighting, I love wrestling, why not?
You've also been taking part in traditional jiu-jitsu competitions including the Pan-American Championship in March. How does something like that compare to wrestling and MMA?
They all complement each other. When I did jiu-jitsu that was for Pan Ams, that was for something big, but when you step on that mat, it's still competition. When you do jiu-jitsu, you do wrestling, you do fighting, it's all competition.
I'm just making sure that I never go cold in that aspect, kind of keep putting myself in these positions that make me feel more experienced. I feel more comfortable being in front of people, not only just going out there and trying to win the match, but actually perform and feel good and comfortable in my own skin.
So far, Bellator has done well to match you up with opponents around your experience level. Are you OK with that or are you hoping for more advanced competition soon?
Do I feel like I should start stepping up in opponents? I'll definitely put a bug in (Bellator president Scott Coker's) ear, but as far as right now, I don't want to jump the gun. Wrestling will only take you so far in this sport. You actually have to pay attention to everything, every part of it.
I've seen a lot of guys who try to jump up way too fast and they're like a deer caught in the headlights. All of a sudden you've got a veteran or someone who knows some seasoned tricks, you're going to be caught and there's nothing you can do. Once they close that cage, you are left to the mercy of someone else.
Prior to diving deeper into MMA, you tried out for the last United States Olympic wrestling team. Will you give it another shot when the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo come around?
At this point, I'm going to say no. It would be nice to compete in wrestling, but I just can't wrestle and fight and do all these other sports at the same time.
In my experience, if you're going to be wrestling, you've got to dedicate yourself solely just to wrestling. That sport in itself, it takes so much time and it's so exhausting. The last thing you want to do is go out there and have a boxing mindset when you're trying to be out there wrestling with somebody.
If you stay undefeated on Friday, is there anyone you'd like to call out? Bellator middleweight champion Rafael Carvalho, perhaps?
Yeah, let's call him out. He's not going to pay any attention to me yet until I'm knocking on his door, but let's call him out. I've never been a stranger to (stepping) up, and if I need to I will step up.