{"id":699828,"date":"2026-05-28T10:35:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T10:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/699828\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T10:35:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T10:35:14","slug":"bangkok-post-one-championship-kade-ruotolo-injury-stalls-andrey-superfight-as-mma-title-push-grows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/699828\/","title":{"rendered":"Bangkok Post – ONE Championship: Kade Ruotolo injury stalls Andrey superfight as MMA title push grows"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Kade<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKade Ruotolo lands a right hand on Hiroyuki Tetsuka at The Inner Circle\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Kade Ruotolo\u2019s latest mixed martial arts breakthrough has come at a cost.<\/p>\n

ONE Championship\u2019s lightweight submission grappling champion has been forced out of his scheduled title defence against Fabricio Andrey after suffering an injury in his second-round TKO win over Hiroyuki Tetsuka at The Inner Circle earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Andrey will now face British promotional newcomer Owen Jones in a featherweight submission grappling bout at ONE Fight Night 44 on June 27 at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok.<\/p>\n

ONE confirmed Ruotolo sustained an injury in the Tetsuka fight, though the promotion did not specify the nature of it.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old American told the Bangkok Post backstage at Lumpinee Stadium that he had hurt his hand landing a strike, possibly with the knockout punch, and showed a bump below one of his knuckles.<\/p>\n

He was taken to hospital, and his right hand and forearm were in a cast the following morning at the fighter hotel. Despite facing a quick turnaround, Ruotolo said he was hopeful the injury could be cleared within two weeks.<\/p>\n

It has still been enough to shelve his return to grappling, where Andrey had been set to move up to challenge him for the lightweight belt.<\/p>\n

\"Kade<\/p>\n

Kade Ruotolo celebrates his second-round KO against Hiroyuki Tetsuka in Bangkok<\/p>\n

Instead, the Brazilian will face Jones \u2013 a former 2023 ADCC European Trials winner \u2013 in a featherweight bout after his first shot at ONE gold was put on hold.<\/p>\n

For Ruotolo, the injury was the only obvious downside to the most significant win of his young MMA career.<\/p>\n

The jiu-jitsu phenom improved to 4-0 in his new sport with a first striking finish, dropping Tetsuka with a straight right hand in the second round before following up with an elbow on the ground to force the stoppage.<\/p>\n

It earned Ruotolo a US$50,000 performance bonus from ONE chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong, and added further momentum to his push towards MMA title contention.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, the plan was a submission,\u201d Ruotolo told the Bangkok Post. \u201cBut if the knockout was to come, I would have been stoked. We kept saying that, so I\u2019m so happy it happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing that a bunch in the training room here and back home. We nicknamed it \u2018The Xannie\u2019, because we knew that one was a sleeper.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s probably my best win in MMA.\u201d<\/p>\n

The aftermath was not quite as smooth.<\/p>\n

\"Referee<\/p>\n

Referee Olivier Coste steps in as Kade Ruotolo delivers ground and pound to end the fight<\/p>\n

Ruotolo suffered what he described as an \u201cadrenaline dump\u201d after the fight and paused his backstage interview with the Bangkok Post to vomit, with twin brother Tye bringing a trash can into the room from the hallway.<\/p>\n

He insisted on continuing, returned to finish the interview, but still looked pale as he reflected on the win.<\/p>\n

By the following morning, Ruotolo appeared happier and healthier at the hotel \u2013 apart from the damaged right hand.<\/p>\n

The timing is frustrating for Andrey, who had been preparing for the biggest opportunity of his ONE career.<\/p>\n

\u201cHokage\u201d is 3-0 in the promotion and had been set to challenge Ruotolo after wins over Ashley Williams, Eduardo Granzotto and Joao Mendes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to jiu-jitsu, someone my size, I view him as one of the toughest fights out there,\u201d Ruotolo said of Andrey before the injury forced his withdrawal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s pretty much all we\u2019ve looked for \u2013 to defend our titles against the best of the best. So I\u2019m excited to face Fabricio.\u201d<\/p>\n

That fight will now have to wait.<\/p>\n

But Ruotolo\u2019s longer-term direction is becoming clearer.<\/p>\n

\"Kade<\/p>\n

Kade Ruotolo with his team, including twin brother Tye Ruotolo (right) at Lumpinee Stadium<\/p>\n

While Kade has moved to 4-0 in MMA, with four finishes, Tye \u2013 ONE\u2019s welterweight submission grappling champion \u2013 is 2-0 and has already submitted Christian Lee\u2019s younger brother Adrian.<\/p>\n

Christian Lee still holds ONE\u2019s lightweight and welterweight MMA titles, the same two divisions where the Ruotolo brothers hold submission grappling belts.<\/p>\n

Tye\u2019s MMA wins have both come at lightweight, but the broader direction is obvious: the twins are moving steadily towards Lee\u2019s territory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re getting there,\u201d Kade said. \u201cIt\u2019s up to Chatri and the ONE team.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother and I are confident we can take on anyone. If the challenge presented itself, we would be ready for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think at some point in the near future, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kade Ruotolo lands a right hand on Hiroyuki Tetsuka at The Inner Circle Kade Ruotolo\u2019s latest mixed martial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,180898,106305,786,318575,21218,785,340888,2843,340889,85,318577],"class_list":["post-699828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bangkok-post","tag-fabricio-andrey","tag-fighting","tag-kade-ruotolo","tag-lumpinee-stadium","tag-mma","tag-mma-title","tag-one-championship","tag-one-fight-night-44","tag-sports","tag-submission-grappling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}