“It took six months straight” – Kade Ruotolo on how he and Tye perfected their leg lock game

Brazilian jiu-jitsu and submission grappling is an everlasting pursuit of knowledge and perfection that keeps Kade Ruotolo and his brother Tye constantly motivated to be better than the day before.

Several years ago, every competitor in this field found themselves adapting to a seismic shift in this world when leg locks became a prominent part of any grappling contest.

To ensure that they stayed at the very forefront of the sport, the Ruotolo brothers dedicated some serious time to enhancing their understanding of the techniques by breaking them down as much as they could.

Their crash course in leg locks prepared them well for facing off against the best competitors in the world, so whatever they did certainly worked.

Kade Ruotolo told this story during their recent appearance on The Fighter and The Kid podcast. He revealed that their plan was to take it all back to the very source of the problem and work backwards to make sure that they understood everything about the techniques before trying to implement or defend against it:

“It took six months straight of every day just like figuring out heel hooks, non stop. Like starting from the main source, the problem, what's creating the torque, okay this is, it's the hips, it's the grip, it's the feet, okay. So we need to close the distance the first thing and you know heels slip to you know just figuring out step by step like that.”

Watch the full interview below:

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Kade Ruotolo will continue to show his evolution at ONE 165

Making it to the top in submission grappling is one thing but staying there in such a constantly evolving sport is a whole different challenge. However, it's one that Kade Ruotolo appears to have taken in his stride.

He and his brother Tye aren’t just here to achieve their success and wave goodbye, both brothers plan on staying at the top for their entire careers.

The continued evolution of Kade’s style and knowledge will be put to the test at ONE 165 on January 28, where he defends his ONE lightweight submission grappling world championship.

Despite beating Tommy Langaker last time out, the Norwegian poses a much bigger threat in the rematch with the confidence of becoming an IBJJF world champion in the time since their first meeting.

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