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Kade Ruotolo was prepared to kill two birds with one stone at ONE 165 last Sunday, January 28.
The ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion extended his unbeaten streak under the ONE Championship banner with another dominant performance over Tommy Langaker in the co-main event of the bill inside the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
However, with the last-minute news about Sage Northcutt’s withdrawal – just before his rematch against the European grappling wizard – the 21-year-old admits he was ready to swap his rashguard for the four-ounce MMA gloves to step right into a duel against Shinya Aoki.
Back-to-back contests in two different disciplines may have been a bit of a stretch for the American grappling prodigy and Atos representative.
But with a desire to test himself in the all-encompassing sport, Kade Ruotolo reveals that he wasn’t messing around about his desire to take on the former lightweight MMA world champion.
Speaking to ONE Championship, he said:
“I wouldn’t say I wanted the fight against Shinya so much in particular, but it was more so that I felt it would’ve been amazing to make my MMA debut, and I felt I would have still gotten the job done in my jiu-jitsu.”
Kade Ruotolo extends promotional run to 5-0 with back-to-back wins over Langaker
Although he didn’t get his rematch against the Japanese martial arts icon, Kade Ruotolo still put on a treat for the Japanese fans as he executed his assignment to perfection at ONE 165.
After closing out his 2023 with a statement win over Langaker at ONE Fight Night 11 in June, the young phenom shifted his focus on setting up his new gym until an offer to run it back against Langaker came along.
Being an athlete who spends extensive time analyzing his previous fights, the lightweight submission grappling king brought out a more attacking approach in his second assignment against the Wulfing Academy star.
Throughout the 10-minute affair, the one-half of the Ruotolo twin attacked with submissions at a furious pace, coming close to a couple of match-ending D’Arce chokes in the later stages of the fight.
