Kade Ruotolo – who won ONE Championship’s inaugural lightweight submission grappling belt right on the heels of his history-making ADCC victory – goes back to work in the ONE Circle on December 2. ONE’s newly crowned lightweight grappling champ will be defending his title against fellow jiu-jitsu black belt Matheus Gabriel on the main card at ONE on Prime Video 5.
Gabriel, a Checkmat star, is well-known as a finisher, and according to BJJ Heroes stats, enjoyed a 70% submission ratio during his victorious Mundials run at brown belt. As a black belt, he’s only grown steadily more dangerous, racking up gold medal wins at Pans, Worlds, and Brazilian Nationals within the past few years.
Gabriel is also notoriously difficult to submit, which makes him a particularly intriguing prospect for the ONE submission grappling ruleset, wherein no points are awarded, and victory is determined solely by either a submission finish, or the greatest number of legitimate attempts, known as “catches.”
Kade, however, has never been entirely satisfied with a match he didn’t win by submission, and relishes a true war, even when it means meeting his opponent’s A-game head-on – just as he did when he chose to wrestle on the feet with sambo specialist Uali Kurzhev in his first title bout. The champ will no doubt be looking to make an example of challengers to his crown.
Ruotolo versus Gabriel will be one of four title bouts on the main card at ONE on Prime Video 5, which will also put belts on the line in MMA, kickboxing, and Muay Thai. This makes ONE on Prime Video 5 the first ONE event to feature title bouts in all four core disciplines of the ONE Championship promotion.
Tune into all the action on Friday, December 2, at 8 PM EST, via Amazon Prime streaming.
