Tye Ruotolo ‘open to fighting’ brother Kade for ONE submission grappling world title
Tye Ruotolo explained that he is absolutely open to facing his twin brother Kade for a ONE submission grappling world title.
Fresh off his world-title-winning performance against Magomed Abdulkadirov at ONE Fight Night 16, Tye Ruotolo is already fielding questions about a potential champion-versus-champion matchup against his twin brother, Kade Ruotolo.
This past Friday, Ruotolo earned a dominant decision victory over Russian veteran Abdulkadirov to claim the inaugural ONE welterweight submission grappling world title. His brother is the promotion’s current lightweight submission grappling titleholder, having most recently defended his belt in June against IBJJF European gi and no-gi champion Tommy Langaker.
With both brothers widely considered among the world’s top pound-for-pound grapplers, and each holding a ONE world title, a match between the two seems like a natural possibility.
After his victory on Friday, Ruotolo told the media that he is absolutely open to facing Kade with a ONE world title on the line.
“My brother and I, we’re always open to fighting each other because we do it every day, you know.
“So it’s nothing out of the normal. And I know, currently, I have three wins over my brother, which is funny, because most of the time he was beating me, you know, so I caught him in the end, pretty much every time.”
The twin 20-year-olds most recently competed against each other in the final of the 2021 IBJJF Worlds as brown belts, with Tye winning by submission after a wild back-and-forth contest.
Since then, both Ruotolos have gone on to big achievements. Tye became the youngest-ever IBJJF black belt gi world champion and took out some of the biggest names in grappling to claim bronze in the absolute division at the 2022 ADCC World Championships.
Kade, meanwhile, submitted all four of his opponents at the ADCC World Championships to become the youngest ADCC champion in history and has claimed the ONE lightweight submission grappling world title.
According to Tye Ruotolo, despite owning three victories over Kade, his brother remains his toughest potential opponent:
“And I think, you know, in my life, there’s no one that I’d rather fight in a competition. And my brother, you know, he’s the toughest guy in the world. You know, it seems like to me, you know, you could fight strong guys, and that’s only so scary.
“You can fight, you know, big guys, but the scariest thing is someone technical, you know, and my brother knows my game perfectly. So it’s gonna be a war every time we fight, and I’m open to fighting for sure.
“You know, we’re so close. We’re brothers when no matter what happens, you know, it’s we’re going to be that way, you know, so just like another day in training.”
