Newly-crowned ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo put on a marvelous performance at ONE on Prime Video 3 this past weekend.
In front of a euphoric crowd in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Ruotolo snatched the world title by submitting the sambo specialist via heel hook midway into the match.
Both fighters used their best weapons right away, with Kurzhev going for powerful trips and throws while Ruotolo went for his wild and frenetic grappling attacks. Once the fight hit the ground, however, the 19-year old BJJ phenom swallowed his Russian opposition.
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When Kurzhev tried one of sambo's patented leglocks, it spelled the end for him as it allowed Ruotolo to attack with a leglock of his own and finish the fight then and there.
Speaking to Mitch Chilson in his post-match interview, Kade Ruotolo walked fans through the amazing finish:
"Once I got my free leg over and I [saw] his heel kind of poking out, I was like ‘Oh it’s right there. I got it, for sure,’ as soon as I latched it on."
Watch the full post-match interview here:
Kade Ruotolo calls out Tainan Dalpra, Tommy Langaker for his next world title defense
In the same interview, Kade Ruotolo immediately made plans to defend his belt sooner rather than later.
The very confident new ONE world champion called out two of the most dangerous competitors in his division: Tainan Dalpra and Tommy Langaker. Ruotolo said:
"The sooner we can get back in here, in the circle, the better. You know, I want to go ahead and defend my title ASAP. I got a couple of names on my mind, if you don’t mind me calling them out. They both start with T’s: Tainan Dalpra and Tommy Langaker. Both of those matchups sound insane. I know both of those guys are signed to ONE. If we could get it going towards the end of the year, I would love those matches, for sure. We need to get it going."
Both Dalpra and Langaker are products of the famous jiu-jitsu stable, Art of Jiu-jitsu (AOJ), under the tutelage of the legendary Mendes brothers.
A possible ONE world title match between Ruotolo and either of the two former world champions could spark a high-profile rivalry between AOJ and Atos Jiu-jitsu. This is going to make headlines in the very near future.