Kade Ruotolo thought he had Nicolas Vigna dead to rights with gnarly heel hook at ONE 171: “I felt a couple of nasty pops”

Kade Ruotolo came away with another brilliant submission victory in his third mixed martial arts fight at ONE 171: Qatar last Feb. 20.

However, the 22-year-old BJJ ace admitted it didn't come as quick as he thought it would be.

The youngest ADCC world champion once again gave a glimpse of his evolving striking arsenal, when he caught his Argentinian opponent Nicolas Vigna with a beautiful head kick.

A scramble ensued, with Ruotolo opting for an ashi garami entry (leg entanglement) and quickly locked in was seemed to be a tight heel hook.

Vigna winced in pain but eventually cleared the knee line and got out of the dangerous predicament.

Speaking to Mitch Chilson post-fight, Kade Ruotolo praised 'El Paisa' for escaping the submission.

"That head kick that landed out first. I saw it and I knew I caught it. I saw the leg entry and I just had to go for it. I felt a couple of nasty pops on the ankle lock…I hope his ankle’s all good. But yeah, he’s a tough guy for sure. I’m surprised he didn’t tap at the first heel hook."

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Then again, Vigna only prolonged the inevitable as he was eventually taken down by Ruotolo and tapped out moments later via a textbook arm-triangle choke.

Watch the full replay of ONE 171: Qatar via watch.onefc.com

Kade Ruotolo proud to keep his streak of first-round submissions going

By now, there's no denying that Kade Ruotolo is the real deal and could be a problem for anyone in the lightweight MMA division.

The CJI -80kg tournament winner's level of jiu-jitsu is far ahead of everybody, and he has used it to his full advantage in his mixed martial arts transition.

So far, the Atos standout has already submitted the likes of Blake Cooper, Nico Cornejo, and Nicolas Vigna, all in the first round.

"The main goal here was to keep it in the first round again. Last few finishes were in the first round. So I knew I gotta do the same this time around," he said in his post-fight interview.