“Got the finish in the first again!” - Kade Ruotolo beams with excitement watching his submission of Nicolas Vigna at ONE 171

ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion, Kade Ruotolo, is getting far too used to this MMA business.

The multi-time BJJ world champion secured his third straight MMA win when he submitted the previously unbeaten Nicolas Vigna at ONE 171: Qatar this Thursday at Lusail Sports Arena.

In an Instagram reel ONE Championship posted, Ruotolo described his elation when he didn't just submit Vigna but secured another first-round finish in his MMA career.

Ruotolo said:

"Oh, this is the end finish, the arm triangle. I don't even hit that many arm triangles, so it's good to get an arm triangle finish. I thought for sure after the first exchange, when I got to the leg lock that was the end of the fight. I felt the ankle pop, I hate feeling the ligaments pop like that. That's never fun to feel that. Then I felt it in the knee stretch really hard."

He added:

"I think that's why when he stood back up, he kind of went right to the cage. I don't think his knee's in too good of a shape, I wish him a speedy recovery. Let's go, we got the finish in the first again!"

Ruotolo was a violent offensive storm against Vigna, threatening the Argentinian veteran with multiple leg locks in the fight's opening moments.

Vigna, being the seasoned fighter, managed to get back to his feet only to eat a blinding overhand right that Ruotolo used to set up his takedown attempt.

Ruotolo ultimately took Vigna out of his misery with a calculated arm-triangle choke 3:04 into the first round.

ONE 171 is available on replay at watch.onefc.com.

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Kade Ruotolo says he wanted to finish off Nicolas Vigna in the opening round

Kade Ruotolo wasn't only determined to secure the hat-trick, but he was also dead set on taking out Nicolas Vigna in the first round.

The ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion was coming off two straight first-round finishes against Blake Cooper and Ahmed Mujtaba when he made his way to the Circle at ONE 171.

In his post-fight interview with Mitch Chilson, Ruotolo said:

"Sorta. Kind of, a little bit, for sure. The main goal here was to keep it in the first round again. Last few finishes were in the first round. So I knew I gotta do the same this time around."