ONE Championship suggests next opponents for Kade Ruotolo, fans react

ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo made a successful defense of his throne against Matheus Gabriel last weekend at ONE on Prime Video 5.

The 19-year-old BJJ prodigy took advantage of ONE's submission-centric ruleset and attacked Gabriel with waves and waves of submission attempts. Rarely did he pause or stall the fight.

Gabriel delivered on his reputation of being near-impossible to submit as he survived every single submission attempt by Ruotolo. He wasn't, however, able to mount any serious offense or put the world champion in any sort of trouble as he was constantly on the defensive. When the final bell rang, Kade Ruotolo did more than enough to earn a unanimous decision victory.

After Ruotolo's first world title defense, ONE posted a photo of two potential challengers to his belt: Tainan Dalpra and Tommy Langaker. The young world champion previously called out the two grapplers when he won the belt and called them out again after defending it. Perhaps now we'll get to see one of them compete for the strap.

Fans commented on the photo, suggesting which among the two should face Ruotolo for the gold next:

Comments on who Kade Ruotolo should fight next | Image courtesy of ONE

Some fans are suggesting Tainan Dalpra. One user who goes by @g.avados pointed out, however, that even though Dalpra is considered to be the number 1 pound-for-pound Gi jiu jitsu fighter today, he has a significant lack of experience in No Gi jiu jitsu:

"Never seen Tainan do no-gi, I would love to see him put a few months into a camp"

ONE CEO and Chairman Chatri Sityodtong and former ONE flyweight submission grappling world title challenger Cleber Sousa could only express their feelings through emoji:

"🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥"

One of the men called out, Tommy Langaker, commented on the post himself, seemingly asking for the fight to happen:

"LFG🔥"

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Fans are suggesting a rematch between Kade Ruotolo and Mica Galvao for the ONE lightweight submission grappling world title

One intriguing match-up fans are suggesting is a rematch between Kade Ruotolo and his ADCC 2022 finals opponent, Mica Galvao. Ruotolo submitted Galvao via a heel hook to become the youngest ADCC world champion ever and the first man to submit Galvao in competition.

Here are the comments:

Comments suggesting a Ruotolo vs. Galvao rematch

Ruotolo and Galvao had an exciting ADCC bout, with Galvao pulling half-guard to aggressively hunt for leg locks. The plan backfired as Kade Ruotolo caught him with a leg lock of his own - a heel hook - in transition and forced the tap. It would be interesting to see Galvao trying to exact revenge against Ruotolo in a different ruleset.

ONE submission grappling matches are won only via submission or by having the most number of submission attempts once the time expires. Considering how their first match went, this possible rematch between Kade Ruotolo and Mica Galvao for the ONE world title will surely produce fireworks.