Kade Ruotolo and Tommy Langaker will now be meeting in a rematch that has been booked for ONE 165 on January 28th, 2024. Although this is the first submission grappling match announced for the event, two elite grapplers will also be competing in MMA fights. Garry Tonon is aiming to get himself another featherweight title-shot by beating Martin Nguyen, and the other fight involves a legend of the Japanese BJJ and MMA scene in a long-awaited match. Veteran grappler and MMA fighter Shinya Aoki will be facing Sage Northcutt, a fight that was first booked almost two years ago.
This isn’t the first time that Kade Ruotolo and Tommy Langaker have met under the ONE Championship banner, and in fact this was the last match that either man had for the promotion. They are both among the very best no gi grapplers on the planet in their weight class and they put on an epic match back at ONE Fight Night 11, where Ruotolo’s lightweight world title was on the line. Ruotolo won the decision and defended his belt, but it was far from a convincing win and it was clear that either man could have won on the right day.
That’s why ONE Championship have decided to book the rematch as Ruotolo’s next lightweight title-defense, kicking off their 2024 submission grappling schedule with a fantastic booking. It’s likely that the pair will still be relatively evenly-matched once they hit the mats, but Langaker has been significantly more active recently. Ruotolo hasn’t competed since that decision win, whereas Langaker won a bronze medal at ADCC Trials and became an IBJJF No Gi World Champion for the first time in his career.
ONE Championship announced the news that the Kade Ruotolo v Tommy Langaker rematch had been booked for ONE 165 in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
