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ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion and youngest ADCC gold medalist Kade Ruotolo successfully defended his belt at ONE on Prime video 5 this month. The 19-year-old prodigy beat the ultra-tough Matheus Gabriel via a unanimous decision to successfully defend his throne for the first time.
Kade Ruotolo was on his usual rapid-fire attack from the get-go, opening up with a full arsenal of submissions while exhibiting superb defensive skills.
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The young grappling phenom displayed relentless offense and insane athleticism in his pursuit of submissions. Ruotolo even executed a perfect front flip and transitioned it to a kneebar that had us scratching our heads in awe. Gabriel, however, proved why he is known to be near-impossible to submit by narrowly escaping the leglock.
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Kade Ruotolo immediately went back to his toolbox and tried to hold it, but it wasn’t as tight as his earlier submission attempt. The final thirty seconds saw Gabriel going for some offense with a guillotine choke, but it wasn’t perfectly locked in. This allowed Kade Ruotolo to just ride the clock out and secure his third straight win in ONE Championship.
Though no submission was secured in the match, Ruotolo scored the most submission attempts, giving him a clear unanimous decision win.
Watch the full fight here:
Who's next for Kade Ruotolo?
After his dominant win at ONE on Prime Video 5, fans and pundits were all clamoring about who Kade Ruotolo would share the circle with next. When he won the belt against Uali Kurzhev at ONE on Prime Video 3 last October, the young prodigy called out two names: Tainan Dalpra and Tommy Langaker. Both of them are still in the world title conversation.
After his ONE on Prime Video 3 win over Kurzhev, Ruotolo said:
"The sooner we can get back in here, in the circle, the better. You know, I want to go ahead and defend my title ASAP. I got a couple of names on my mind, if you don’t mind me calling them out. They both start with T’s: Tainan Dalpra and Tommy Langaker. Both of those matchups sound insane. I know both of those guys are signed to ONE. If we could get it going towards the end of the year, I would love those matches, for sure. We need to get it going."
Both Dalpra and Langaker are products of the famed gym Art of Jiujitsu (AOJ) by the Mendes brothers. Dalpra is considered the pound-for-pound greatest Gijitsu grappler today, while Langaker is one of the rising stars in the sport today. Pitting either of them against Ruotolo will surely produce fireworks.
