ONE Championship had its first submission grappling match on May 26, 2017. In 2022, the organization launched its grappling divisions with a string of exciting and successful bouts. At ONE Fight Night 11 on Friday, June 9, that growth continues with ONE Lightweight Submission Grappling World Champion Kade Ruotolo taking on Tommy Langaker in the evening’s co-main event.
The global ruleset for submission grappling has a pointed focus on submission attempts. In ONE, it is not about points. Fans have seen the height of aggressive elite grapplers leave it all on the mat. And that is what Ruotolo expects from his latest challenger on Friday.
“We’ve seen him at ADCC. He looks good. He looked good against [Renato] Canuto. He fought PJ [Barch], who was good at ADCC. And it was a pretty close match until PJ got his back at the very end. He looked solid. He looks good. I’m not expecting a pushover. I know he’s going to be more than a valid opponent. He deserves to be there,” Ruotolo told ONE.
Aggression has been the name of the game for Ruotolo since arriving in ONE. In his debut, he had a highlight-reel back take off the Circle Wall. Upon his return, he collected the inaugural ONE Lightweight Submission Grappling World Championship with a submission in under five minutes.
At ONE Fight Night 11, Ruotolo plans to be as dynamic as he has ever been against Langaker. He stated he wants to mix things up and force the Norwegian to react. If he does bite, the Southern Californian expects a finish.
“If I had to make a prediction, I’m going to give either a d’arce or a leglock as hard as I’ve been juggling the idea of both of them. I told someone recently, ‘You know, d’arce is our favorite submission. We always go with the d’arce. But I think he wants to submit me with a leglock.’ So he could get me with a leglock just kind of, you know, make sure that he knows,” Ruotolo predicted.
Ruotolo has had an exceptional 18 months in the sport of grappling, but his attention is starting to go elsewhere. Although he currently reigns over the lightweight division, Ruotolo is beginning to round out his game in the gym with his wrestling and striking. And the Atos athlete plans a move to mixed martial arts sooner rather than later after he gets past Langaker.
Although grappling remains a passion for the 20-year-old, he is beginning to see a path toward more gold in MMA. While his brother, Tye Ruotolo, eyes bigger opposition in submission grappling, Kade is already planning his transition. That makes his next title defense even more intriguing as we watch one of the most dynamic and exciting athletes in the sport near his exit from submission grappling and tease his entry into the next phase of his career.
“I love jiu-jitsu, and I would love to continue getting big and take out those guys. But at the same time, I almost feel like my love for MMA is almost growing past my want to be the greatest of all time in the No-Gi. I definitely want to be one of the best of all time right up there with my brother, and it’ll be considered one of the best of all time. I think Tye wants to be the best of all time,” Ruotolo said.
ONE Fight Night 11 airs live on Prime Video on Friday, June 9. The action begins at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The event is free for all U.S. and Canadian Amazon Prime members.
