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Kade Ruotolo couldn’t have asked for a better year competing than the one he had in 2022.
On June 9, Ruotolo will make his first 2023 appearance as he is set to defend his ONE lightweight submission grappling world championship against Norwegian standout Tommy Langaker. The two are set to square off in the ONE Fight Night 11 co-main event next month. Weeks away from his highly anticipated return, the 20-year-old submission prodigy sat down with ONE Championship to reflect on a stellar 2022.
“So definitely defending my title a lot with ONE. You know, I got it last year and it is about as good as it could possibly go. I feel like I won some of the biggest and best competitions out there for jiu-jitsu. And, you know, there's no ADCC this year. There's only one next year.”
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Making his promotional debut in May 2022, Kade Ruotolo made waves immediately when he scored a unanimous decision victory over Japanese legend Shinya Aoki. A few short months later, Ruotolo would go on to become the youngest ADCC world champion of all time, submitting every one of his opponents along the way.
If that wasn't enough, Ruoloto made history once again in October, becoming the inaugural ONE lightweight submission grappling world titleholder, besting four-time Sambo world champion Uali Kurzhev. He would go on to defend that title against Matheus Gabriel at ONE on Prime Video 5 in December, putting a cap on an absolutely incredible year
Kade Ruotolo will attempt to keep that momentum going when he meets 121-win veteran Tommy Langaker when ONE Championship returns to the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok for ONE Fight Night 11. Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North America can catch the event live and for free in U.S. primetime.
