Kade Ruotolo and Tommy Langaker met for the second time at ONE 165 on January 28th, 2024 and once again the promotion’s lightweight submission grappling title was on the line. They previously engaged in an incredibly entertaining match at ONE Fight Night 11 back when the title was vacant, and Ruotolo won that match by decision. Given that both men had their opportunities to finish that match at different times, it made sense for the promotion to book the rematch as Ruotolo’s first title-defense. The match was booked as the co-main event for ONE 165, with the only fight above it being a battle for the promotion’s flyweight kickboxing title.
There were a few questions coming in to ONE 165, mainly because Kade Ruotolo had not been anywhere near as active as Tommy Langaker had since their first match. Ruotolo had not had a single match in the half a year that had passed since the first time he beat Langaker, whereas Langaker has been incredibly prolific. He won gold at the IBJJF No Gi European Championship in 2023 and did the same at the IBJJF No Gi World Championship at the end of the year, along with a series of other matches in between those as well. He was coming into the rematch with Ruotolo having won his last 12 matches in a row, so this promised to be a very close match.
Ruotolo had clearly been able to put his time away from competition to good use though, as he was able to put in an even better performance than their first match. It was much less closer this time around and Ruotolo was able to put Langaker under pressure with several submission attempts over the course of 10 minutes. Although Ruotolo couldn’t find the finish, he still won the decision thanks to his relentless pace. There were other displays of elite grappling at ONE 165 too, with Garry Tonon submitting Martin Nguyen shortly before the legendary Shinya Aoki submitted John Lineker.
ONE 165 Full Results
Superlek Kiatmuu9 defeats Takeru Segawa via Decision – Unanimous (Round 5, 3:00)
Kiatmuu9 retains the ONE Championship flyweight kickboxing title
Kade Ruotolo defeats Tommy Langaker via Decision – Unanimous (Round 1, 10:00)
Ruotolo retains the ONE Championship lightweight submission grappling title
Shinya Aoki defeats John Lineker via Submission – Rear-naked Choke (Round 1, 3:00)
Nieky Holzken defeats Yoshihiro Akiyama via TKO – Punches (Round 1, 1:40)
Marat Grigorian defeats Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong via KO – Knee and Punch to the body (Round 3, 1:20)
Garry Tonon defeats Martin Nguyen via Submission – Rear-naked Choke (Round 1, 4:41)
Ayaka Miura defeats Itsuki Hirata via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 5:00)
Preliminary Card
Yuya Wakamatsu defeats Danny Kingad via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 5:00)
Rade Opacic defeats Iraj Azizpour via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 3:00)
Bokang Masunyane defeats Keito Yamakita via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 5:00)
Gustavo Balart defeats Hiroba Minowa via Decision – Split (Round 3, 5:00)
The full ONE 165 live event replay, including the Kade Ruotolo and Tommy Langaker rematch, is available to watch as a PPV here.
