Fans react to Kade Ruotolo’s slick world title-winning heel hook submission of Uali Kurzhev

Newly-crowned ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo put on a show against Uali Kurzhev last weekend at ONE on Prime Video 3.

The youngest ADCC world champion and now the first ONE titleholder in his division shocked and awed the multi-time sambo and judo champion in just under five minutes.

The frenetic submission grappling match barely had any breaks as both competitors kept attacking with every power tool in their respective arsenals. In the end, Kade Ruotolo simply swallowed Kurzhev once the fight hit his backyard: the ground.

The 19-year old BJJ practitioner submitted the sambo specialist with a heel hook finish midway through the 10-minute bout.

Needless to say, fans were going crazy about the finish of the historic bout. Fighters, fans and pundits alike were saying their two-cents on the remarkable outcome.

Here are some of the comments on the finish posted on Instagram.

Comments on Kade Ruotolo's submission finish of Uali Kurzhev.

Former ONE heavyweight world champion Brandon 'The Truth' Vera couldn't contain his excitement as he expressed his thoughts purely in emoji form:

"💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾"

One fan that goes by the name of @mma_pump stirred the pot of the sambo vs. BJJ rivalry by making a play on Khabib Nurmagomedov’s original statement:

"if jiu jitsu were easy it would be called sambo"

Another fan, @jordanaridoesjiujitsu, echoed @mma_pump's statement by saying:

"Where are all the sambo better than Jiu Jitsu guys at. Really quiet I see."

ONE has fueled the fire of the rivalry between sambo and jiu-jitsu in their submission grappling matches. So far, it's 3-0 for jiu-jitsu.

Shinya Aoki submitted Marat Gafurov back in 2018, and Rodrigo Marello completed the fastest submission in the promotion’s history when he defeated Ruslan Bagdasarian at ONE 161 this past August.

Ruotolo’s submission victory over Kurzhev at ONE on Prime on Video 3 was the third such clash of the two sports so far in the submission grappling arm of the promotion. It will be interesting to see what the Sambo community brings next to this ongoing rivalry.

---

Kade Ruotolo finishes Uali Kurzhev via heel hook to win the inaugural ONE lightweight submission grappling world title

In the first of three world title fights at ONE on Prime Video 3, 19-year-old BJJ black belt Kade Ruotolo submitted sambo champion Uali Kurzhev with a heel hook. Ruotolo was like a grizzled veteran as he constantly took the fight to his 33-year-old Russian opponent.

Kurzhev started early by landing his signature outside trip that momentarily put Ruotolo on his backside. Not to be deterred, however, the BJJ prodigy got back up and hopped on the sambo specialist's back.

Kurzhev used brute force to escape, but he wasn’t quite ready for Ruotolo’s relentless assault.

The multi-time sambo and judo champion tried to mount some offense of his own but Ruotolo turned the tables on him. With their legs entagled on the ground, the young grappler locked in a heel hook at the 4:26 mark and forced the Russian to tap.

Not only did Ruotolo win a shiny new ONE world title belt, he also took home a sweet $50,000 performance bonus.