“That was crazy fast” - Fans marvel at Kade Ruotolo’s no-nonsense body slam of Matheus Gabriel

ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo is undoubtedly one of the best grapplers active today. He wouldn't become the youngest ADCC world champion and a ONE world champion in the same year if he's not a special athlete.

One good example of the 20-year-old prodigy's greatness was when he defended his ONE lightweight submission grappling world title against Matheus Gabriel last year. The bout happened at ONE on Prime Video 3 and was Ruotolo's first world title defense.

Despite Gabriel being an IBJJF world champion himself, he wasn't able to do much to stop the lightweight king's relentless assault.

ONE posted one of the key moments in the bout where Kade Ruotolo slammed Gabriel to the ground:

"Ankle pick ➡️ Slam 💥 Can anyone end Kade Ruotolo's reign atop the lightweight submission grappling division? @ruotolobrothersjiujitsu"

That ankle-pick fake-out to a body-lock slam is a thing of beauty. In hindsight, that powerful slam was the beginning of the end for Gabriel, who barely mounted any offense. Ruotolo won the match via a dominant unanimous decision win.

Fans are appreciating the sequence and showed it in the comments section:

Comments on the video

@linussvard is all hyped by Ruotolo's relentless technique:

"@ruotolobrothersjiujitsu kade is fireeee🔥🔥"

@justadadwuthfeetheat pointed out that Ruotolo's greatness comes from the fact that he trains under a lagend in Andre Galvao:

"This monster comes out of @atosjiujitsuhq gym and has trained under @galvaobjj one of the worlds greatest Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners."

@rajkingshekar is all for the bait-and-switch nature of the sequence:

"Unexpected move. He wasn't prepared for that."

@chrismartinez.xo said what we all were thinking:

"That was crazy fast 💨"

After defeating Gabriel, followed it up with another successful world title defense against Norwegian BJJ standout Tommy Langaker at ONE Fight Night 11 this past June.

At the moment, no official challenger has been lined up yet for Kade Ruotolo. He did however, showed that he's been training in MMA with his brother Tye. What's next in the young world champion's career is still yet to be seen.