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Kade Ruotolo will return to the circle to defend his lightweight submission grappling world championship for the first time at ONE on Prime Video 5. The recently crowned champion will face black belt Matheus Gabriel on December 2. The event is live and free for North American audiences on a Prime Video subscription.
On October 21, Ruotolo was crowned ONE Championship’s second submission grappling world champion after Mikey Musumeci. In a dominant performance, the grappling prodigy defeated Uali Kurzhev with a heel hook after playing into the sambo specialist's biggest strengths and going toe-to-toe with him.
Matheus Gabriel is a very credible first title defense for Ruotolo, winning the Pans, Worlds and Brazilian nationals in the past few years. Gabriel has become well known for being difficult to submit, a puzzle that Ruotolo will have to figure out due to ONE submission grappling's unique rule set.
Ruotolo vs. Gabriel will make up one of the four title fights on the main card of ONE on Prime Video 5 where for the first time, all four of ONE’s core disciplines will be represented in world championship fights.
Alongside Ruotolo’s belt, the three other world championships on the line are Allycia Rodrigues’ atomweight Muay Thai belt, Superbon’s featherweight kickboxing world title and Reinier de Ridder’s light heavyweight world championship.
Fans react to Kade Ruotolo’s slick world title-winning heel-hook submission of Uali Kurzhev
Kade Ruotolo showcased exactly why he is the most talked-about grappler in the world right now at ONE on Prime Video 3. The youngest ADCC world champion became the inaugural ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion with a dominant performance against Uali Kurzhev.
After somewhat playing into Kurzhev’s strengths by engaging with the sambo expert on the feet, once the fight hit the ground, it was Ruotolo’s world and he locked up a heel hook in just over four minutes.
With so much hype around him going into the contest, Kade Ruotolo delivered inside the circle, prompting fans, fighters and pundits to throw praise his way.
Check out some of the comments on the finish posted on Instagram:
Former ONE heavyweight world champion Brandon 'The Truth' Vera was just one of many fellow competitors who showed his respect for the newly crowned champion:
"💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾"
A big narrative going into the match was Ruotolo’s jiu-jitsu vs. Kurzhev’s sambo, reawakening the debate that some fans had to get the final word on.
"if jiu jitsu were easy it would be called sambo"
"Where are all the sambo better than Jiu Jitsu guys at. Really quiet I see."
