Lightweight submission grappling king Kade Ruotolo faces Pakistan’s Ahmed Mujtaba in second MMA fight at stacked ONE 169 card
Kade Ruotolo is about to embark on one of his toughest tests yet. The reigning ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion will face off against Pakistani brawler Ahmed Mujtaba in his second mixed martial arts fight on the stacked ONE 169 card on Nov. 8 at the iconic Lumpinee Stadium.
ONE Championship announced the fight on its social media channels.
On Instagram, the promotion wrote:
"Kade Ruotolo is BACK to throw down with Pakistani powerhouse Ahmed Mujtaba on November 8 at ONE 169! 👊 Will the grappling phenom notch his second MMA victory? @ruotolobrothersjiujitsu @ahmed_aka_wolvverine."
The Ruotolo brothers, i.e Kade and Tye, are among the most decorated Brazilian jiu-jitsu artists of the generation. Kade has recently taken a liking to establishing his brand in the realm of MMA.
The lightweight submission grappling king was the first among the twin brothers to don the gloves when he made his MMA debut at ONE 167 in Bangkok in June this year.
Ruotolo faced off against American brawler Blake Cooper in his MMA debut. Determined to show off his striking, Ruotolo threw hands in the early goings of the match but decided to revert to his BJJ roots once he found the opening.
Ruotolo quickly secured Cooper's back and slapped in a textbook rear-naked choke for the submission win.
Tye, the ONE welterweight submission grappling world champion, has also hinted that he will make his MMA debut soon, but an official announcement is yet to be made.
Ruotolo's second foray into MMA, and the entire ONE 169 card, are available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.
Kade Ruotolo admits he had "nervous energy" minutes before his MMA debut
Kade Ruotolo has to be one of the coolest fighters on the planet, but the ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion admits he still gets the jitters every now and then.
The CJI and ADCC world champion said in his post-fight interview with ONE Championship commentator Mitch Chilson that he was a bit nervous mere moments before he touched gloves with Blake Cooper at ONE 167.
Ruotolo said he wanted to just let out all that energy the moment the opening bell sounded in Bangkok:
"Like I said, it's my debut so there's a little bit of that nervous energy, for sure. I was feeling really sharp in the back room with the boys. As soon as you get in here, you just want to scrap, you just want to let it all out."