The Bellator 201 main card on June 29 features Bellator MMA women’s flyweight champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane and veteran fighters Saad Awad, Valerie Letourneau and Juan Archuleta. However, the prelims will showcase several fighters the promotion has been grooming for greatness, including three-time NCAA wrestling champion Ed Ruth.

Ruth heads into his sixth professional appearance undefeated, with an eye on further growth inside the cage. After starting his career with four straight stoppage victories, Ruth was forced to go the distance at Bellator 196 in April. Ion Pascu was the first opponent to offer some resistance to the 27-year-old blue-chip prospect.

“That experience, it really takes a toll,” Ruth said. “It really takes its toll inside of a fight.”

Pascu, a veteran of 26 fights, tested the undefeated wrestler. Even though Ruth dominated their 15-minute encounter, the tactics employed by the Romanian forced him make adjustments other opponents did not.

“Those [veteran] guys, they know the angles,” he said. “They know how to rest.”

Ruth appreciated the clever tricks Pascu utilized. He mentioned a sequence late in their bout in which the SBG Ireland representative spit out his mouthpiece to buy some time to recover.

“I like seeing those [tactics],” Ruth said, “because that is the only time you will see those things.”

Although winning in quick and easy fashion has its benefits, Ruth knows logging cage time now will only benefit him later.

“I’d rather see [veteran tricks of the trade] early in my career,” he said, “rather than seeing them at a time when it really matters.”

A Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, native, Ruth works to become a fully formed mixed martial artist every day in the gym, paying careful attention to not put a priority on one aspect of the sport over another.

“Everything is equal. I feel like you have to have everything on the same plane,” he said. “I feel like everybody should work on everything.”

While he makes a concerted effort to improve his standup and jiu-jitsu, Ruth remains fully aware of the skills that pushed him to this level and aims to enhance those strengths, as well.

“As a wrestler, I am only in this sport because I am a wrestler,” he said. “I just want my standup to tie into my wrestling after a while.”

When Ruth enters the cage against his next opponent -- Andy Murad -- he will do so as a welterweight for the first time. In his first five appearances, he weighed in at 190, 189, 185 twice and 174 pounds. The decision to fight at 170 pounds was not a difficult one for the young fighter, as his weight loss has been gradual and natural.

“The whole weight cut down to 170 choice was made just through the training,” Ruth said. “I was doing a lot of boxing, a lot of conditioning cardio, and I was really trying to get into the disciplines. Everything just kind of came down naturally.”

With a changed diet -- “I started to eat cleaner and read more nutrition labels” -- and the rigorous training involved with MMA, Ruth will not need to work hard to make weight. The fighter claims he walks around between 183 and 185 pounds, so a trip to the sauna should do the trick. Even so, Ruth has not ruled out competing as a middleweight in the future.

“I’m pretty much a tweener when it comes to weight,” said Ruth, who won his NCAA wrestling championships at 174 and 184 pounds. “I was the same way in college.”

Competing in two divisions would add value to Ruth as an MMA asset and could also prove beneficial to his pocket book. Either way, Ruth works to sharpen his skills and stay prepared for any opponent.

“I’m prepared to face the next guy,” he said, “whether it be heavier or lighter.”

In the end, Ruth wants to be as active as possible.

“I’ve made it very clear to Bellator: ‘If you guys will get me on the card, [then] get me on the card,’” he said with a laugh. “If you’re truly on the path to the belt, you shouldn’t care if you’re on [the] prelims or main card. You should go out there and fight, because as long as it brings you one step closer to the belt, you shouldn’t be complaining.”

Grinding away towards his goals suits Ruth just fine. He seems to wish more of his contemporaries looked at the situation the same way.

“There’s so many people that have to climb the mountain, and everybody’s trying to take shortcuts,” Ruth said. “It’s like, why don’t you just get your ass on the mountain and start climbing.”

Just five bouts into his career, Ruth was not willing to divulge if he had completed his original contract with Bellator -- he has not fought outside the company -- or if he has signed a new deal. However, he has no plans to fight elsewhere anytime soon.

“I’m going to be with Bellator for a while,” Ruth said. “I would like to say I am fighting 20 more times [for Bellator].”