Upset-seeking Francisco Lo ready to leave a mark vs. Kade Ruotolo: “An opportunity to show my jiu-jitsu to the world”
For the first time in his professional career, Francisco Lo will have the chance to showcase his BJJ talent on the global stage as he faces reigning ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo.
The pair will meet in a catchweight match on April 5 at ONE Fight Night 21 inside the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Before testing his skills against one of the finest submission artists today, Francisco Lo talked to ONE Championship and revealed how he wants to maximize this opportunity to prove that he is on par with the best athletes in the sport.
The 23-year-old Brazilian phenom said:
"The challenges were certainly the main reason for me to join ONE Championship. The grappling division has grown a lot at ONE Championship, and I saw an opportunity to show my Jiu-Jitsu to the world. I'm very excited to make this debut and I want to put on a show for the crowd. And, of course, I want to come away with the victory and make a career in ONE Championship."
This upcoming match with the Atos representative will also be his opportunity to gauge his skills and serve up a warning to Kade about him going to his division and taking away his 26-pound golden belt from him.
The Checkmat team-affiliated athlete earned his BJJ black belt in 2022 and won the IBJFF Pan American No-Go and American National titles.
Francisco Lo thinks he has the perfect style to submit Kade Ruotolo
In another recent interview, Francisco Lo claimed that he has the best style of solving the puzzle of Kade and could possibly submit him during their match. If he does so, he'll become the first athlete to beat the 21-year-old BJJ star.
Furthermore, he will snap his five-fight win streak and not be part of his victim list, which already includes Shinya Aoki, Uali Kurzhev, Matheus Gabriel, and Tommy Langaker (twice).
ONE Fight Night 21 will air live in U.S. primetime, free of charge for existing Prime Video subscribers in North America.