“Nothing too personal”– Kade Ruotolo on why he called out Tommy Langaker

It has been a crazy couple of months for ONE Championship’s submission grappling sensation Kade Ruotolo. Most recently, Ruotolo bested sambo world champion Uali Kurzhev to capture the promotion’s inaugural lightweight submission grappling world championship.

A month prior, Ruotolo made history by becoming the youngest ADCC Submission Fighting World Champion at just 19 years old. Celebrating his victory at the ADCC after party, Ruotolo is said to have had words with another competitor at the tournament, Tommy Langaker. This led Ruotolo to call out Langaker in his post-fight interview following his world title victory.

Kade Ruotolo elaborated on the situation. Ruotolo revealed that their exchange was enough to get him fired up for a potential meeting inside the circle:

“It was nothing too crazy. Nothing too personal. Afterward there were talks about this match...me and Tommy... And the after party, he was like, yeah, when are we going to go?"

Ruotolo continued:

"I think we were all a bit woozy. It was a bit of a crazy night but it was no foul play really. It was cool, but at the same time, he came at me with interesting energy I'd say, and he kind of fired me up to have a match with him.”

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Kade Ruotolo on ONE Championship’s dedication to the growth of jiu-jitsu

Having previously dabbled in the world of submission grappling, ONE Championship went all in on the sport in 2022. ONE resurrected submission grappling showdowns inside the circle at the promotion’s 10th-anniversary. Since then, stars such as Mikey Musumeci, Kade Ruotolo, and his twin brother Tye Ruotolo have made their names known in the world of combat sports.

Speaking at the post-fight press conference, Kade Ruotolo spoke on ONE Championship’s role in bringing Brazilian jiu-jitsu to a new audience. ONE's initiative has given fighters an avenue to compete in, earn acclaim, and become financially stable. Ruotolo spoke about the promotion's role in popularizing BJJ:

“Oh, it's huge. It's so massive for jiu-jitsu, it's motivating for the athletes, right? Jiu-jitsu was kind of stuck in this rut for a long time, where, take worlds, for example, guys train all year as hard as they can, then get to the tournament. When they finally get there, maybe they have eight tough fights, they make it to the final, and they win. And then they're almost losing money.”