“Doesn't really intimidate me” - Kade Ruotolo unaffected by Uali Kurzhev missing weight for their match

Brazilian jiu-jitsu prodigy Kade Ruotolo earned the ONE lightweight submission grappling world championship at ONE on Prime Video 3 when he submitted Russia's Uali Kurzhev with a heel hook.

Leading up to the bout, the sambo world champion and national Judo champion unfortunately missed weight for the inaugural ONE lightweight submission grappling world championship. In an interview with ONE Championship, the young Ruotolo said that he did not mind at all:

"I didn't really think about it at all, to be honest with you. I just came in the same way I come in every match. Every day in the gym I'm fighting guys who are 220 plus monsters, animals. So size is one thing that doesn't really intimidate me especially when it comes to grappling."

A small weight miss is no big deal because of how experienced Kade Ruotolo is in grappling. He explained that he rolls around larger men.

In addition to earning the ONE lightweight submission grappling world championship in 2022, Kade Ruotolo also made history by earning one of the top prizes in the sport today and setting the record as the youngest to do so. The American athlete submitted all four opponents to earn the ADCC world championship in the 77-kg division.

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Kade Ruotolo earned grappling greatness due to his brothers' guidance

Tye and Kade Ruotolo are twin brothers who are extremely skillful in grappling. Both made their ONE Championship debuts this year and also competed in the 2022 ADCC World Championship. In ONE, the brothers successfully defeated Shinya Aoki and Garry Tonon, respectively. In ADCC, Tye Ruotolo had an inspiring run in the absolutes before falling in the semifinals, while Kade Ruotolo went all the way to win the gold in the 77-kg division.

In his post-fight interview, Kade credited the win to the time he spent training alongside his brother. Speaking to Kenny Florian, Kade said:

"It's massive. He [Tye Ruotolo] gave me so many pointers heading into this. He's fought Mica many times. This is our first match. I heard the Diaz Brothers say this, he goes, if he told me to say something specific, he would have told me, be he went ahead and told me, 'Go beat that motherf***r's ass! [laughs] ' But I'm so relieved. I'm so pumped. I'm so stoked. Thank you."

Tye competed in a different weight category and did not find much success there. However, he did make up for it with a remarkable run in the absolutes. Meanwhile, Kade was able to walk away with a prestigious world championship title as he stopped all four of his opponents via submission.