Kade Ruotolo says "ONE is the future in submission grappling" because of exciting ruleset

Tye and Kade Ruotolo have been two of the breakout stars in ONE Championship in 2022. With the platform that ONE has put submission grappling on, the twins have capitalized on it perfectly.

Both brothers have picked up two wins inside the circle. Tye Ruotolo has earned two performance bonuses for his submission victories over Garry Tonon and Marat Gafurov.

Kade Ruotolo, meanwhile, became the inaugural lightweight submission grappling world champion by defeating Uali Kurzhev and following it up with a title defense this past Friday at ONE on Prime Video 5. There, he defeated Matheus Gabriel via unanimous decision.

In his post-fight press conference alongside his brother, Kade Ruotolo spoke about why submission grappling is exciting and how ONE is helping to foster that:

"I think jiu-jitsu's one of the only sports in the world where there are thousands and thousands of techniques and more being created every day. There are only so many punches and knees and elbows. There are so many different techniques and there are so many different variations."

He continued:

"But as Tye said, it's up to the athletes to make it exciting and that's kind of been the whole back of this jiu-jitsu, a lot of athletes play by the rules and try to squeak out wins and I think that's why ONE is the future in submission grappling. Their ruleset, they make it exciting and they bring exciting people on. So as long as ONE keeps doing that, the future is bright, for sure.”

Watch the full press conference below:

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“I don't like to be too persistent” - Kade Ruotolo is getting tired of calling fighters out and not getting responses

Kade Ruotolo is not afraid to seek out the biggest challenges available to him. After becoming the youngest-ever ADCC world champion at just 19 years old, the submission grappling prodigy became a ONE world champion just one month later.

In a quick turn around, Ruotolo defended his world championship against IBJJF world champion Matheus Gabriel and though he was unable to get the submission victory, Kade dominated the bout and emerged as the clear winner.

Following his victory in the co-main event on Friday night, Kade Ruotolo spoke at the ONE on Prime Video 5 post-fight press conference. The lightweight submission grappling world champion discussed being frustrated when he calls out opponents but doesn’t get any response:

“Yeah, guaranteed. I think so. Especially Tye. I don't like to be too persistent and call too many people out but it's gotten to a point where they're either going to take it or leave it, I guess.”

Kade Ruotolo’s brother Tye Ruotolo captured his second win inside the circle on Friday night, submitting former ONE featherweight world champion Marat Gafurov just past the five-minute mark.