“A clash of styles” - Kade Ruotolo admits not knowing much about upcoming opponent Uali Kurzhev

ONE submission grappling rising star Kade Ruotolo is not shy to admit that he’s pretty much in the dark about Uali Kurzhev’s abilities.

The pair of grappling geniuses will clash in another Brazilian jiu-jitsu versus sambo showdown on the lead card of ONE on Prime Video 3: Lineker vs. Andrade. The event is set for October 21 at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Aside from gaining the ultimate bragging rights for their grappling discipline, the victor will also be crowned the inaugural ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion.

The 19-year-old savant is coming off his magnificent run at the 2022 ADCC World Championships, where he became the youngest world champion in the tournament’s history.

Making his feat even more impressive was the fact that he submitted everyone in his wake, something that no one has ever done before. Prior to that, he also dominated fellow BJJ black belt Shinya Aoki in a 10-minute grappling display at ONE 157 this past May.

The California-based grappler will be looking to do the same against Kurzhev. Then again, it’s going to be easier said than done, considering he knows little about the Russian powerhouse.

Speaking during the ONE on Prime Video 3 media day, Kade Ruotolo said he’ll be wary of Kurzhev’s sambo background, but is also gearing up for the uncertainty of the unknown.

“I took a week to rest after the recent competition at ADCC, and took a hard two-week training camp for this upcoming bout. I don’t know a lot about Uali, but I know that he comes from a strong judo and wrestling background, with great takedown skills and good leg attacks. There will be a clash of styles which will be exciting to see.”

Catch the virtual faceoff interview below:

Indeed, it’s going to be interesting to see how Kade Ruotolo’s flashy BJJ skills fare against the 33-year-old’s fundamentally-sound sambo attacks.

As it stands, judo, wrestling, and BJJ are the main pillars of the grappling arts. However, we’ve seen fighters with backgrounds in combat sambo taking over in MMA as of late.

While Kade Ruotolo seems to have a keen idea of what to expect from the promotional newcomer, it remains to be seen if his wait-and-see approach will be effective at ONE on Prime Video 3.

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Kade Ruotolo says BJJ is more diverse than sambo

Kade, who’s one-half of the famed Ruotolo brothers alongside Tye, once again stoked the fires of the budding rivalry between BJJ and sambo ahead of this Friday's event

During the virtual press conference, the Team Atos representative turned the tables on Khabib Nurmagomedov’s now infamous quote about sambo and BJJ:

"Someone left a comment on my last Instagram post: ‘If sambo was easy, it would be called jiu-jitsu.’ So these matches [jiu-jitsu vs. sambo] are really cool, we can merge the two styles. Sambo guys have great takedowns and leg locks, so it’ll be fun to figure out his style."

Furthermore, Kade Ruotolo made it clear that he respects Kurzhev’s grappling credentials considering he’s also a 2015 Judo Grand Slam gold medalist.

However, he remains confident that BJJ is the more diverse sport, and offers more avenues to win when it comes to submission grappling.

“But I believe in BJJ, we have a few more moves, more options, so it’ll be an interesting matchup."