Kade Ruotolo, 19, of California, United States has successfully defended his ONE Championship belt for the first time. He is the martial arts organization’s reigning world champion in submission grappling in the light division.
On May 20, 2022, Ruotolo made his ONE Championship at “ONE 157” at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore where he defeated “Tobikan Judan” Shinya Aoki, 39, of Tokyo, Japan via unanimous decision. On October 21, 2022, Ruotolo became the inaugural ONE Lightweight Submission Grappling World Champion by submitting Uali Kurzhev, 33, of Russia at “ONE on Prime Video 3” at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
On December 3, 2022, Ruotolo defended his ONE Lightweight Submission Grappling World Championship title from Matheus Gabriel, 25, of Brazil at “ONE on Prime Video 5” at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines. It was the co-main event of the evening.
Vitor Ribiero served as the referee. After a 10-minute round, he raised the hand of Ruotolo, who was declared the winner via unanimous decision.
Born in Maui, Hawaii, USA, Ruotolo is of Italian and Puerto Rican descent. He was an infant when he and his family moved to Huntington Beach, California.
Ruotolo was 3 years old when he started competing in jiujitsu. He is a black belt in Brazilian jiujitsu and since 2017, he has been training at the Atos Academy under the tutelage of the legendary Andre Galvao in San Diego, California.
CONAN Daily 