WATCH: Kade Ruotolo's wild ONE Championship debut against Japanese legend Shinya Aoki in Singapore

May 20, 2022, will forever be an important date in the career of ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo, as that was when he made his ONE Championship debut versus the great Shinya Aoki at ONE 157.

To many fans' surprise, Ruotolo consistently pressured the former ONE lightweight MMA world champion and eventually snaked his way into dominant positions on the ground. At the same time, 'Tobikan Judan' struggled to generate any kind of momentum.

The Atos product ultimately won by unanimous decision, mainly because of his strong effort in the final five minutes, which featured multiple attempts to lock in all sorts of submissions from different angles.

Relive Kade Ruotolo's promotional debut below, which ONE shared on YouTube:

This one-sided outing was a sign of things to come for the Atos product as he captured the inaugural ONE lightweight submission grappling world championship with a heel hook finish of Uali Kurzhev in October 2022. He would later extend his unbeaten run in submission grappling to six with a rear-naked choke of Francisco Lo in April 2024.

In June of that same year, Ruotolo made his long-awaited MMA debut with a sensational submission of Blake Cooper at ONE 167. He followed that performance with a lightning-quick D'Arce choke of Ahmed Mujtaba in November.

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Kade Ruotolo eyeing third straight MMA win at ONE 171

With Kade Ruotolo quickly finding his groove in MMA, he is eager to test himself by gunning for his third consecutive win in the sport at ONE 171: Qatar on Thursday, Feb. 20, at the Lusail Sports Arena in Lusail, Qatar.

Despite his unshakable confidence, the 22-year-old cannot afford to take the debuting Nicolas Vigna lightly. The 34-year-old Argentinian boasts an undefeated 7-0 pro-MMA record — four wins via submission and three by knockout.

Tickets for ONE 171 are available via Q-Tickets.