The Ruotolo twins are two of the most impressive young grapplers on the planet and there’s long been a question of what would happen if the two ever met in the finals of a major tournament like the IBJJF world championships. Often, brothers or close teammates will meet in the final of a division and rather than actually compete against one another, the pair simply choose who will take gold and who will take silver instead. This is what’s commonly known as a close out and it’s something that many fans and athletes have taken issue with over the years, seeing as it removes a sense of completion from an elite level tournament.
This isn’t just something reserved for lesser-known competitors however as there’s usually at least one close out in a division at every edition of the IBJJF world championships, and even names as big as Paulo and Joao Miyao have opted to forego competing for a gold medal. Considering that the battle between the Miyao brothers is just one of many of the most exciting matches that fans have been deprived of in the past, it stands to reason that there would be some interest around what the Ruotolo twins would do if they were ever scheduled to meet on the mats.
The question came up in a recent interview with Kade Ruotolo and he answered pretty firmly, confirming that the twins will battle it out if they do meet at the upcoming IBJJF world championships: “If you close out, there’s no winner, you know? I feel like the third place is the winner if there’s a closeout… so we’ll definitely make sure to scrap it out in the final if we make it there.” With a smile as wide as the cheshire cat’s, he adds: “Or when we make it there.” The full interview with Kade Ruotolo was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of FloGrappling:
