Kade Ruotolo shares inspiring story of middle-aged man trying jiu-jitsu because of him

Kade Ruotolo takes pride in being the inspiration for people of all ages, both young and old, to give jiu-jitsu a try

Over the last year, the 20-year-old grappling prodigy has become a bonafide superstar in the sport, making history at every turn. Shortly after becoming the youngest ADCC champion of all time, Ruotolo captured the inaugural ONE lightweight submission grappling world championship, a feat that has inspired people from all walks of life to give the sport a try.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Kade Ruotolo shared the story of a man in his sixties that was inspired to sign up for classes after seeing him compete.

“I've met people that start jiu-jitsu [in their] sixties and seventies, literally. And I had someone in their mid-sixties come up to me like 'I saw your video. You're the reason why I started jiu-jitsu.' I shook his hand. And he was I think he said he was 64 years old. And I was like amazed. I was like, there's no way.”

With three-straight wins inside the Circle, Kade Ruotolo has had an undeniably impressive run under the ONE Championship banner thus far. However, all of that could come crashing down at ONE Fight Night 11 on June 9 as he squares off with Norwegian standout Tommy Langaker.

Boasting 121 career wins, Tommy Langaker will be the toughest test of Ruotolo's career thus far. Langaker made his own promotional debut in 2022, earning back-to-back wins against two-time BJJ world champion Renato Canuto and four-time Sambo world champion Uali Kurzhev. Next, he will attempt to pick off another world champion en route to capturing his first piece of ONE gold.

Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North America can catch ONE Fight Night 11 live and for free in U.S. primetime on June 9.