ONE Lightweight Submission Grappling World Champion Kade Ruotolo wants to prove that he’s the best in the world, and he doesn’t mind putting fuel on the fire against his rivals ahead of their fights. 

The American grappling phenom will step in for his second World Title defense when he takes on Norway’s Tommy Langaker in the co-main event of ONE Fight Night 11: Eersel vs. Menshikov inside Bangkok, Thailand’s Lumpinee Boxing Stadium on June 9. 

Upon claiming the inaugural belt against Sambo standout Uali Kurzhev in October 2022, the 20-year-old immediately called out Langaker in an effort to compete against some elite Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitors. 

The origin of the rivalry between Kade Ruotolo & Tommy Langaker

He got his chance to roll with a world-class BJJ practitioner when he met IBJJF World Champion Matheus Gabriel ONE on Prime Video 5 last December, where he retained his strap before doubling down on his callout of Langaker. 

It’s a matchup that has been budding since the ADCC tournament in September 2022, and the Atos representative shed more light on its origin in an interview with ONE Championship.

“At the ADCC afterparty, it was getting a little crazy,” he said. “[Langaker] came up to me, and he was like, ‘When are we going to fight?’ We exchanged some words. And then, long story short, I just body-locked him, and I picked him up in the air. I was like, ‘I could slam you right now. You’re lucky I won’t.’ I told him, ‘I promise you, when I fight you, I’m going to submit you.’ So now I’ve got to submit him.”

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Langaker made his ONE debut in August 2022, with a unanimous decision victory over two-time BJJ World Champion Renato Canuto. Then, earlier this year, the Norwegian dynamo returned and showed the world why he should be seen as a formidable foe when he submitted Kurzhev with a heel hook over a minute quicker than Ruotolo.  

A tense affair

While it appeared to be a heated encounter at the ADCC afterparty, the World Champion claims their exchange was all in good fun. That said, he admits it has given him more motivation to get the finish when they finally meet. 

“It was pretty funny. We messaged each other afterward. It was all good, but it just kind of created a little bit of tension,” Ruotolo said. “I think having an opponent that you have a little bit of tension with just excites me more than anything. I just want to submit him really bad. From the second I step foot in there, I’m going to be very, very physical until I get that submission.”

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ONE Fight Night 11 will be broadcast live and for free on Prime Video for all Amazon subscribers across North America.