Kade Ruotolo has just had his next grappling match announced and he will be taking on Francisco Lo at ONE Fight Night 21 on April 5th, 2024. This will actually be Lo’s ONE Championship debut, and he’s taking on a huge challenge in his first outing for the promotion. Ruotolo on the other hand is already a veteran competitor who has been making appearances at ONE Championship events for almost two years, and he has a flawless 5-0 at them. He is also the promotion’s reigning lightweight submission grappling champion, a title he won in his second match when he submitted Uali Kurzhev.
Ruotolo has since gone on to defend his lightweight title twice, with his first defense coming in 2022 when he won a decision against Matheus Gabriel. That was only shortly after he became the youngest ADCC champion in the history of the sport, so it was a huge year for him. He took a much longer time away from competing in the sport then in 2023, although he did have enough time to make a second title-defense against Tommy Langaker. His most recent appearance at a ONE Championship event saw him put his lightweight title on the line against Tommy Langaker once again, and he retained it after an even more impressive performance than the first time.
This match against Francisco Lo will not be his first match without a title on the line since the beginning of 2022, as Kade Ruotolo will instead be moving up in weight to meet him in a catchweight bout at 180lbs instead. Although he has generally competed at lower weight classes than Lo in the past, Ruotolo has also enjoyed a much higher level of success over the course of his career so far. Lo does hold some wins over several notable names and is the reigning IBJJF No Gi Pan Champion from 2023 though, so he will still present a very tough challenge regardless.
ONE Championship announced the news that Kade Ruotolo was going to face Francisco Lo in a catchweight match at ONE Fight Night 21 in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
