“It should have gone my way” – Tommy Langaker believes he deserved title win over Kade Ruotolo in their first encounter

Tommy Langaker believes he, not Kade Ruotolo, should be the ONE light submission grappling world champion.

Seven months removed from their entertaining back-and-forth battle at ONE Fight Night 11 last summer, Ruotolo and Langaker will run it back when the promotion returns to Tokyo, Japan for a stacked night of fights at ONE 165.

The co-main event of the evening will see the Atos representative once again put his title on the line against the Norwegian grappling wizard. But if you ask Langaker, he should be the one defending a title.

Tommy Langaker came up short on the scorecards in his first meeting with Ruotolo but during a recent interview with ONE Championship, he feels as though he did enough to walk away with the victory and the gold.

“I do think it should have gone my way,” Langaker said. “But when I played guard and he was playing top, it may have looked that he was putting on a pretty high pace when he was passing, and it depends on how the judges score it and what they favor. I was countering everything he was doing.”

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Tommy Langaker closed out 2023 in a big way

Despite coming up short against Ruotolo in June, Tommy Langaker had a stellar 2023. The 29-year-old went on to win no-gi gold at the 2023 IBJJF world championships.

“I would have said ‘no way, I don’t do no-gi.’ But I guess things change for the better, apparently,” Langaker told Flograppling. “I can end the year with a very good resume, and I’m very happy. I’m very emotional, so it’s very nice.”

With an IBJJF title and wins over two-time BJJ world champion Renato Canuto and four-time Sambo world champion Uali Kurzhev inside the Circle, Langaker has more than earned his second shot at a ONE world title.

ONE 165 airs live on Sunday, January 28, via global pay-per-view at watch.onefc.com.