Kade Ruotolo’s crossover success continues, as the Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) champion has just scored his first career knockout win in mixed martial arts (MMA).
Friday night in Bangkok, Thailand, Ruotolo showcased his ever improving MMA game, as he managed to land a devastating KO win over Hiroyuki Tetsuka (15-6). The BJJ world champion landed a spinning kick in the second round of their contest, before feinting with the same strike soon after. The slight pause set up a massive right hand from Ruotolo that
dropped his more experienced MMA opponent.
Kade pounced with follow up elbows, and Tetsuka was out cold. Watch the finishing sequence from ONE Friday Fights 154 below.
With the victory, Kade Ruotolo improved to 4-0 in MMA as he continues to compete in ONE Championship. All four wins have come by stoppages, with the first three victories coming by various chokes.
Ruotolo won the ADCC world title in 2022, and then won the $1 million tournament at the inaugural CJI event in 2024. His wild match with now UFC BJJ champ Andrew Tackett is also considered as arguably the best BJJ match of all time.
Kade’s twin brother and fellow BJJ champ Tye Ruotolo has also started his MMA career, and is currently 2-0 in ONE. Unlike many of their older colleagues that only transitioned late in their jiujitsu careers, the Ruotolo twins are still just 23 years old and have been balancing their grappling and MMA careers simultaneously.
It’ll be interesting to see how far this pair of athletic BJJ champions can progress in their young MMA careers, as they have continued to show improvements on each fight out.
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