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Kade Ruotolo has met some of the toughest names in submission grappling, but none have been more dangerous than his ONE Fight Night 11 challenger, Tommy Langaker.
The 20-year-old submission grappling sensation is set to defend his ONE lightweight submission grappling world championship for the first time in 2023 as he makes his debut inside Thailand’s iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium. Standing in his way of another successful defense is Tommy Langaker, a Norwegian submission star with 121 wins and a plethora of accomplishments.
Speaking with the South China Morning Post hours before his highly anticipated return, Kade Ruotolo acknowledged that Langaker will represent his toughest test to date under the ONE Championship banner:
“Absolutely. Yeah, definitely out of my ONE Championship matches, out of all of my previous ones, I guarantee this will probably be the most difficult or he's at least the most well-versed coming into this.”
Making his promotional debut in 2022, Kade Ruotolo scored three straight wins in the span of six months, besting Japanese legend Shinya Aoki, four-time Sambo world champion Uali Kurzhev, and IBJJF world champion Matheus Gabriel. Adding to his incredible list of accomplishments, Ruotolo became the youngest competitor to become an ADCC world champion a month prior to capturing the promotion’s inaugural ONE lightweight submission grappling world championship.
However, if you ask Tommy Langaker, he doesn’t care about any of Kade Ruotolo’s accomplishments. All he cares about is imposing his will inside the circle on Friday night and leaving The Land of Smiles with 26 pounds of ONE gold wrapped around his waist.
Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North America can catch ONE Fight Night 11 live and for free in U.S. primetime on June 9.
