“It would be really cool to fight him in his world” - Kade Ruotolo looking to fight Shinya Aoki in MMA

Brazilian jiu-jitsu phenom Kade Ruotolo has called out Japanese grappling great Shinya Aoki for an MMA fight.

At ONE on Prime Video 3, the US-born prodigy earned the ONE lightweight submission grappling world championship. He now wants to run it back with 'Tobikan Judan', but in a different format.

Kade Ruotolo has had a historic 2022. The American grappler became the youngest ADCC World Champion when he conquered the 77kg division. He also did it in historic fashion, winning all four of his bouts via submission.

In the ONE Championship circle, he just defeated Russia's Uali Kurzhev, a sambo world champion and national judo champion, by way of a first-round heel hook. In doing so, he earned the inaugural ONE lightweight submission grappling world title.

In his promotional debut earlier this year, Ruotolo also defeated Shinya Aoki in a submission grappling match — the only match in his last six that did not end in a submission. Ruotolo is now intrigued by the idea of facing the Japanese legend in an MMA fight.

In his post-fight interview after ONE on Prime Video 3, Kade Ruotolo said:

“I think a very interesting fight would be Shinya Aoki. It would kinda be a cool rematch. He fought me in a grappling bout, MMA would be very intriguing as well. I fought him in my world, it would be really cool to fight him in his world. Maybe next year we can get that going.”

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Shinya Aoki's legacy in MMA

Kade Ruotolo is considered the best grappler in his weight category in the world, having earned the top prizes in ONE and ADCC. It would be quite a change of pace should Ruotolo enter the ONE circle in an MMA bout.

It would be Kade Ruotolo's debut in MMA, while Shinya Aoki has over 50 professional bouts in the sport.

Aoki is a former ONE lightweight world champion and has fought many notable combatants. That includes Yoshihiro Akiyama, Eduard Folayang, Ben Askren, Kazushi Sakuraba, Joachim Hansen, Eddie Alvarez, and Tatsuya Kawajiri, among many others.

Japanese MMA legend Aoki has never shied away from a challenge and has agreed on Twitter to face the 19-year-old in an MMA match. Replying to the video excerpt of Ruotolo's challenge, 'Tobikan Judan' wrote:

"#metoo."