There are MMA prospects, and then there’s Ed Ruth, who has potential to far exceed the average head-turning youngster.

Ruth (4-0 MMA, 4-0 BMMA), who fights Friday at Bellator 196, knows exactly what type of success he can harness in the sport, but he wants to do it the right way. The three-time NCAA collegiate wrestling champion from Penn State University keeps focused on himself, which significantly quiets the outside noise.

Ahead of his next fight, which comes against Ion Pascu (17-7 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) on the Paramount-televised Bellator 196 card from BOK Hall in Budapest, Hungary, that noise has been a revolving door of opponents. Ruth has had several opponent switches, but he said he’s taking it all in stride.

“I’ve been through three, four or maybe even five opponent changes,” Ruth told MMAjunkie. “Some guys take the fight and they don’t know who they’re fighting and they’ll look it up and go, ‘OK, well this is a no-go.’ It’s not frustrating to me at all. When fighters get into this sport and want to fight, you can’t just go ducking and dodging everybody. You should fight anybody who comes along.

“I’ve always had the mindset of, ‘Hey, I’m ready to fight. It doesn’t matter who it is.’ If fighters are going to drop out, then drop out, but my game plan is always going to be the same.”

Since making his pro debut in November 2016, Ruth, 27, has taken to the sport like a natural. The amateur wrestling standout has won all four of his bouts by knockout against an increasingly difficult level of competition. Pascu might not be much of a name to casual fans, but he’s a veteran of the European scene, and his 24 pro fights are the most of any Ruth opponent so far.

That progression in experience is exactly what Ruth wants to tests himself against, he said.

“I always want my opponents to keep going up in skill and that’s what I look forward to,” Ruth said. “I’m not just here just for the money, just for the fame, just for any of that. I’m here for the experience. I’m here to actually become a warrior. He has quite a few fights behind him and it will be a good challenge.”

After starting his MMA career by fighting at 192-pound catchweight, Ruth was supposed to make his official welterweight debut at Bellator 196. The numerous opponent switches left him with a 175-pound catchweight against Pascu, but Ruth said he’s not concerned by the weight class in this short-notice scenario.

Ultimately Ruth intends to settle at welterweight. It’s Bellator’s deepest weight class in terms of talent, and although Ruth originally foresaw himself as a middleweight, he said he’s somewhat surprised by how lean fight preparations have made him.

Ruth said he’s the type who keeps himself fight-ready all year. He said he’s extremely passionate about fighting and hopes Bellator can keep him more active going forward. Ruth seemingly has all the potential to be a championship caliber fighter, but he said he needs more opportunities to exercise his craft in the cage.

He plans to show off his latest learnings against Pascu at Bellator 196.

“The past two years I’ve fought just twice each year and this year I really want to step it up,” Ruth said. “All my training and everything, I feel like I’m kind of just ready to be in the cage more regularly. I don’t like downtime. I’m not getting any younger. There’s nothing else that’s coming down the pipeline. I just want to be in the cage as much as possible.”

For more on Bellator 196, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.