Garry Tonon and Kade Ruotolo are two of the biggest grappling stars to make the transition to MMA in recent years and given that they both fight for ONE Championship, it seems like their paths might be destined to cross there. They are at different points in their MMA careers at the moment though, as Tonon has been doing MMA for 6 years and is currently on his way to a second title-shot with a 9-1 record. Ruotolo has been just as successful but he’s only been doing it for a year, and his last submission win at ONE 171 moved him to 3-0.
Ruotolo is still a little way away from a title-shot in his division and there is a little weight difference at play as well, as he’s a lightweight and Tonon is a featherweight. A fight between them is still huge as far as grappling fans are concerned, and they do have a little bit of history too. Tonon was submitted by Kade’s brother Tye Ruotolo in a grappling match back at ONE 157 but according to Tonon, he was originally supposed to face Kde:
“So technically I lost to Tye (Ruotolo). Originally I was supposed fight Kade (Ruotolo) and then they just changed who it was that I was fighting, as if there’s not a weight difference, in the last like month or few weeks before the fight. Which is weird but whatever, it is what it is, I’m game.”
Obviously Garry Tonon is focusing more on MMA these days and although a few things would need to work out right, he’s still interested in facing Kade Ruotolo:
“He’s pretty early on in his MMA career. Is it something that if I’m still there when he works his way up? Which I’m sure he will because he’s an incredible athlete. Yeah man, it would be a great fight. I think a lot of people would love to see that. I’m definitely looking forward to that as well in the future, you know assuming all things… the stars align and the narrative aligns and everything like that. I think that that’s a good test for sure and a fun one for the grappling fans. Because that’s something that they would probably love to see, Jiu-Jitsu between me and him in an MMA context. It’s interesting, it’s more interesting in my opinion than a straight grappling match between me and him.”
The full interview with Garry Tonon where he spoke about the possibility of facing Kade Ruotolo in an MMA fight was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of ONE Championship on the South China Morning Post:
