Kade Ruotolo is slowly reaching into his untapped MMA potential.
The reigning ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion captured his second MMA win when he submitted Ahmed Mujtaba on the stacked ONE 169 card this past Friday at the historic Lumpinee Stadium.
Ruotolo, who started his MMA career this year, scored a stunning submission finish over the Pakistani brawler that sent the Bangkok crowd into a frenzy.
Taking to Instagram following his win, Ruotolo wrote he's only at the start of his MMA journey and expects to grow further not only as a fighter but also a person as well.
Kade Ruotolo posted:
"Got the job done ✔️ Had my second career MMA fight a couple of nights ago @onechampionship in Bangkok. Super stoked on the result, finish by D'Arce in the first round. Thanks to my amazing corner @tyeruotolo @erikpaulson and @classicfightteam 👊🏽 I'm so grateful for all of my supporters, fans, family and friends as well🙏🏽 Can't forget the $50,000 bonus from the boss @yodchatri 🙌🏽"
He added:
"Looking forward to continue improving in all aspects of life, thank you all for the support."
Despite being a BJJ black belt, Ruotolo didn't rely on his grappling at the start of his match against Mujtaba.
Ruotolo, who's always eager to showcase his development on the feet, cracked Mujtaba with a looping overhand right and followed it up with an unforgiving ground-and-pound sequence.
The lightweight submission grappling king then ended the fight with a calculated D'Arce choke to go 2-0 in his MMA career.
ONE 169 is available on free replay on Prime Video for subscribers in the United States and Canada.
Kade Ruotolo says he endlessly drilled finishing sequence against Ahmed Mujtaba
Kade Ruotolo's stunning overhand right didn't just come out of a whim during his matchup against Ahmed Mujtaba.
A natural-born submission machine, Ruotolo said in his in-ring interview that he and his team tirelessly worked on landing that perfect overhand right hand that clocked Mujtaba square on the jaw.
He told ONE Championship commentator Mitch Chilson:
"That was something we’ve been working on all camp - high low, over. That’s the combo that’s been special for me and I’m so stoked to get it done today. So stoked."