Kade Ruotolo confident he can outclass Reinier de Ridder in MMA

Tye Ruotolo already owns a win over Reinier de Ridder, and now his twin brother twin Kade wants to take a shot at the Dutch superstar.

This time though in de Ridder’s turf of mixed martial arts.

It’s no secret that Kade, the reigning ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion, has been adamant about making a move to MMA this year. While there’s no date yet for his jump, Kade already looks at de Ridder as a potential foe.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post during the ONE Fight Night 11 fight week, Kade expressed his confidence in taking on the former ONE middleweight world champion:

“He's very big. He's very tall, but it's definitely possible. I think I definitely can. I honestly think his hands aren't a bit of a threat. In jiu-jitsu, I think I'm obviously going to outclass him there. So if it comes up to it, I think I'll get him, for sure. No doubt.”

Tye was the first to take on de Ridder but it was in a middleweight submission grappling match that the American grappler took by unanimous decision.

If Kade does make the jump into MMA, he’d be entering a territory that ‘The Dutch Knight’ has reigned over splendidly.

De Ridder is 7-1 in his MMA matches in ONE Championship with five of those wins ending in either a submission or a knockout.

The 6-foot-4 middleweight king was unstoppable in his first seven matches in the circle stringing together three straight wins en route to his first world title fight. De Ridder matched up against Burmese legend Aung La N Sang for the ONE middleweight world title in October 2020.

It took De Ridder practically no time at all to capture gold when he submitted Aung La with a rear-naked choke in the opening round.

De Ridder would reach champ-champ status when he took the ONE light heavyweight world title from Aung La just a few months later in April 2021.