“You gotta hold it down” - Kade Ruotolo says brother Tye told him to rep BJJ over Sambo

On Friday, October 21, the pressure will be on for BJJ superstar Kade Ruotolo as he plans to showcase why his school of the submission arts is far superior to the Russian military-based art of sambo.

Kade Ruotolo and Uali Kurzhev are headed for an exciting clash of styles for the inaugural ONE lightweight submission grappling world championship on ONE on Prime Video 3. Both players will be carrying the legacies of their martial arts as they represent BJJ and Sambo on the global stage.

Upon signing the contract for the matchup, Kade Rutotolo told ONE Championship that he felt a good sense of pressure from his twin brother Tye, who basically told him, "it’s do or die."

The 19-year-old prodigy said:

“The biggest source of so-called pressure [is]- holding it down for jiu-jitsu [vs. Sambo]. That’s the first thing my brother said when I signed this contract: ‘Sambo vs. jiu-jitsu, you gotta hold it down'."

Watch Ruotolo and Kurzhev's interview below:

The battle between Sambo vs. BJJ has been going on for ages. It predates back to the Gracie family heyday when they would compete and win sambo tournaments.

The only difference today is that under ONE Championship, the styles will clash in a grappling match rather than MMA. The stakes are high on both sides to best represent their grappling skills and win the coveted world title.

The favorite coming into this incredible matchup is Kade Ruotolo. The prodigy is coming off the best performance of his career by taking home the ADCC world championship last month.

He made history by being the only 19-year-old to submit all players in the tournament to capture gold. He will have his hands full while challenging Sambo world champion and judo veteran Uali Kurzhev.

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Kade Ruotolo anticipates an exciting clash of styles against Uali Kurzhev

Kade Ruotolo is not expecting Uali Kurzhev to hold anything back in this matchup. Kurzhev is a proficient and dangerous wrestler with an impressive sambo resume.

As Ruotolo explained in an interview with jiujitsutimes, competing against a world class athlete like Kurzhev is one of the reasons why it’s such an exciting matchup:

"Obviously, with his sambo background, he’s going to be very talented as a wrestler. I’ve seen some tape, and he has some good takedowns, some good trips and some leg attacks as well, so that will be really interesting.”

It’s an intriguing matchup to say the least. But the combatants will only have 10 minutes to battle it out.