“Kinda bringing it back to the roots” - Kade Ruotolo proud to carry jiu-jitsu’s flag in its birthplace of Tokyo

Reigning ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo is not only excited for his world title rematch with Tommy Langaker in the co-main event of the stacked ONE 165 card on January 28, but he is also looking forward to putting in an incredible performance in front of the packed Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.

During the event’s press conference on January 25, Ruotolo acknowledged that his second meeting with Langaker is a daunting task and that he is not leaving any stones unturned.

But more than the delight he feels for his third world championship defense, Ruotolo is thrilled to put out an amazing performance in the birthplace of the sport that he loves, as he stated:

“I’ve got a super tough fight ahead of me with Tommy, another rematch, very excited about it. Knowing what you think about jiu-jitsu you know most of you guys know it as Brazilian jiu-jitsu, but before that it was Japanese jiu-jitsu, right? So we’re kinda bringing it back to the roots and super stoked to be here and excited to put on another performance.”

The one-half of the famous Ruotolo twins previously defeated the 29-year-old Norwegian grappler in their first meeting at ONE Fight Night 11 to collect his fourth victory under the world’s largest martial arts organization and maintain his undefeated record.

Aside from Langaker, the 21-year-old American, who proudly represents Atos, also holds a win against former ONE lightweight MMA world champion Shinya Aoki at ONE 157, Uali Kurzhev at ONE on Prime Video 3, and Matheus Gabriel at ONE on Prime Video 5.

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Kade Ruotolo promises to submit Tommy Langaker in their world title rematch

Although he got the job done the first time around against Langaker by securing a unanimous decision victory during their first fight, Kade is far from satisfied with his performance as he seeks to force a tap from the Wulfing Academy representative.

The defending world champion revealed this ultimate goal of his in a recent interview with the world’s largest martial arts organization. Once he reasserts his mastery over Langaker, he could potentially explore other opportunities and cross over to the MMA ruleset.

ONE 165 is available on pay-per-view at watch.onefc.com.