Kade Ruotolo will put his slick submission grappling skills to the test when he makes his ONE Championship return following a historic run at the ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship last month.
Ruotolo has been largely absent from the promotion since his spectacular debut against Japanese MMA legend Shinya Aoki at ONE 157.
Before we look ahead to his high-profile bout at ONE on Prime Video 3, ONE Championship is taking a look back at Ruotolo’s impressive performance against ‘Tobikan Judan’ in May, including a beautiful maneuver that was quite literally off the wall.
“OFF THE WALL 🤯 BJJ wizard Kade Ruotolo hopes to make a STATEMENT when he battles sambo giant Uali Kurzhev for the inaugural ONE Lightweight Submission Grappling World Title at ONE on Prime Video 3! 🏆"
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Facing Ruotolo inside the circle will be ONE Championship newcomer Uali Kurzhev, a two-time judo gold medalist and a sambo world champion in his home country of Russia.
It will be an intriguing clash of styles between the Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) wizard and the sambo specialist as the two collide to crown the first-ever ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion.
Mikey Musumeci was blown away by Kade Ruotolo’s ADCC run
During his time away from the circle, Kade Ruotolo was busy making BJJ history by becoming the youngest competitor to win a world championship at the famed ADCC tournament last month.
Everyone was absolutely blown away by Ruotolo’s dominant run in the tourney, including ONE Championship’s first submission grappling world champion, Mikey Musumeci.
A five-time BJJ world champion himself, ‘Darth Rigatoni’ knows what it takes to be the best in the world. In an interview with ONE Championship, Musumeci shared his excitement for Kade Ruotolo’s accomplishment at such a young age:
“ADCC for submission wrestling is the biggest tournament in no-gi, you know, so that’s the World Championship for no-gi. And Kade, he went in there, broke the record as the youngest ADCC World Champion, 19 years old, and he submitted every match. It’s unheard of. It’s really unheard of what he did.
Ruotolo’s next task is to add another world title to his resume at ONE on Prime Video 3. He’ll face a tough task against the sambo specialist, but after his historic run in September, Ruotolo is as confident as ever and hopes to make history once again.