Tye Ruotolo talks ONE Fight Night 31 title defense, possible future MMA debut

Tye Ruotolo is known as one of the best young grapplers in the world, but still competes like he always has more to prove.

The American submission grappler is a welterweight grappling champion with ONE as well as the youngest IBJJF black belt world champion ever.

However, Tye and his twin brother Kade have also training for a while to step into the world of mixed martial arts.

“We grew up scrapping each other,” Tye said, “But Kade and I are having so much fun diving into the MMA realm.”

The hands of Kade Ruotolo, now 3-0 in mixed martial arts, were on full display and shocked fans in his fight with Ahmed Mujtaba, but his brother was not surprised.

“Kids actually got good hands,” Tye said during our recemt interview, “It was so funny watching that fight with Ahmed because we kind of had a little game plan, you know, work your way in, get to the body. And he goes just: high, low, over. Coach called it. Boom.”

Tye did say he himself would love to make his MMA debut in ONE Championship’s third upcoming event in the United States, ONE 173 in Denver on August 1st, but refuses to look past Dante Leon.

A Canadian BJJ black belt who won the World IBJJF No-Gi Championships in 2019 and 2022, Leon lost to Ruotolo once before, in a WNO tournament four years ago.

Yet Tye knows that Leon will be no pushover as one of the best grapplers he has faced during his tenure with ONE Championship.

“Dante is a beast. You know? He’s, gotta be up there with one of the toughest guys I fought for sure,” Ruotolo said, “Dante is very smart tactically, you know? And he doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. He’s very well rounded. He’s a hard guy to put away for sure. But I got a couple things in mind and I’m excited.”

Ruotolo has been on a tear in ONE Championship by going 8-0 since signing, on top of already being recognized as one of the top grappling phenoms in the sport, alongside his brother and others like Mica Galvão.

Last year, Kade Ruotolo won the inaugural Craig Jones Invitational, a new grappling tournament attempting to compete with ADCC, but with the tournament switching to a team format for 2025, the brothers’ plans are still somewhat up in the air.

“I know it’s a team concept. I don’t know if it’s, like, the team quintet or how exactly it’s going on, but, I most likely will be doing it,” Tye revealed, “Not 100% sure, but, most likely…got to double check with ONE.”

Being part of such big money-making opportunities in the world of Brazilian jiu-jitsu is something that would have been impossible just a few years ago.

“It’s really amazing the the fact that our sport has gone to that point; it took a while,” Tye said, “My parents got me into jiu jitsu, I was three years old, and there was no money in the sport at all. You know? So it was kind of wild, them taking a chance on my brother and I, giving us jiu-jitsu private [lessons]…just dedicating their lives. My mom would drive to San Diego from Huntington Beach, like, hour and a half, three, four times a week.”

“You know, we got organizations like ONE, ONE’s belt pay is hard to beat. Unmatchable, really. And then you got all these different promotions…making it possible for sure. So it’s really, it’s really exciting stuff.”

Tye Ruotolo defends his ONE Championship welterweight submission grappling championship in the co-main event of ONE Fight Night 31, live on Amazon Prime Video from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok Thailand.

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