Kade Ruotolo reveals one lesson he learned heading into ONE Fight Night 11

ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo was taken to the absolute limit in the second defense of his throne last week at ONE Fight Night 11: Eersel vs. Menshikov. The 20-year-old prodigy went against a very game Tommy Langaker in a nail-biting submission grappling battle. In the end, Ruotolo narrowly edged Langaker out with a hard-earned unanimous decision win.

As it turns out, despite Ruotolo dictating the largely frenetic pace of the bout, he wasn't 100%. In his post-fight media scrum, Kade Ruotolo shed light on why he didn't perform to his satisfaction last Friday.

The ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion said:

"I learned one huge thing, never bomb a hill skateboarding before a fight. I made that mistake, this one, a couple of weeks ago, I ate it and I couldn't really quite get all the training. I think that kind of resulted in the way I fought tonight."

Watch the full interview here:

If that wasn't him at 100%, then we feel bad for Kade Ruotolo's next opponent when he actually comes into the bout with no prior injury. It's widely known that Kade and his twin brother Tye are avid skateboarding and surfing hobbyists. Their penchant for such extreme sports somehow helps with their incredible sense of balance and controlled chaos on the mats.

We hardly saw any signs of nagging injuries in the bout with Langaker, though. The action went from 0 to 60 right from the opening bell where the young world champion put his Norwegian challenger on the mat early.

From the bottom, Langaker scored the first submission catch with a tight heel hook which Ruotolo remarkably escaped from. From there, Kade Ruotolo went murder mode and unleashed his pressure passing game. Langaker, to his credit, marvelously defended all of the world champ's attacks.

It took halfway through the bout for Ruotolo to rally and score a submission catch of his own, a modified Achilles lock from top position.

With the clock winding down and the score still at 1-1, Ruotolo wowed the crowd with a Hail Mary straight armbar attempt and another Achilles lock. Langaker, once again, was on point with his defense. With the score even upon the final bell, Kade Ruotolo earned the judges' decision due to his aggression and unstoppable offense.

North American fans keen to catch Ruotolo's victory at ONE Fight Night 11 can do so via free replay on Amazon Prime Video.