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Newly-crowned ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo performed one of the most impressive world title wins in recent memory at ONE on Prime Video 3.
Against sambo and judo champion Uali Kurzhev, Ruotolo showed the world how many levels of jiu-jitsu he is above everyone else.
Ruotolo was largely in control the entire bout with Kurzhev constantly defending his attacks. The bout started as an aggressive hand-fighting battle, with the Russian sambo specialist violently pushing and grabbing Ruotolo's head to establish dominance on the feet.
Kurzhev momentarily achieved success with his tactics when he pulled off an impressive foot sweep that put Kade Ruotolo on his backside for a second. The tide of the match significantly changed when Kurzhev attempted a failed throw, which allowed Ruotolo to take his back.
From there, the sambo champion desperately tried to defend all choke attacks from the 19-year-old until he found a way to wiggle out and reset the bout on the feet.
Where Kurzhev made a critical error, however, was when he tried an attack himself. He attempted one of sambo's signature leglock submissions, only to be countered and submitted via heel hook by Ruotolo.
Kurzhev was never in the ballgame as the whole game was entirely inside Kade Ruotolo's fist the whole time. The bout not only won Ruotolo a new world title, it also won him a $50,000 performance bonus from ONE.
Watch the full fight here:
Kade Ruotolo wants Tainan Dalpra, Tommy Langaker for the first defense of his ONE world title
Just mere moments after winning his freshly-minted ONE world title belt, Kade Ruotolo was already making plans for his first world title defense.
The American grappling prodigy spoke with Mitch Chilson in his post-match interview and made announcements regarding his immediate plans:
"The sooner we can get back in here, in the circle, the better. You know, I want to go ahead and defend my title ASAP. I got a couple of names on my mind, if you don’t mind me calling them out. They both start with T’s: Tainan Dalpra and Tommy Langaker. Both of those matchups sound insane. I know both of those guys are signed to ONE. If we could get it going towards the end of the year, I would love those matches, for sure. We need to get it going."
Tainan Dalpra is a two-time IBJJF world champion and is considered by many as one of the top pound-for-pound best Gi jiu-jitsu athletes in the world today.
Tommy Langaker, meanwhile, is a former IBJJF Pans and European Open champion who recently burst into the ONE submission grappling scene. Dalpra comes from the renowned Art of Jiu-jitsu (AOJ) team under the tutelage of the legendary Mendes brothers, which Langaker was also a part of while he was still in California.
Having either of these grappling superstars face Kade Ruotolo in his first world title defense in ONE Championship will surely make headlines across the submission grappling world.
