ONE Championship grappling superstar Tye Ruotolo is set for a baptism of fire on his MMA debut with a matchup against Adrian Lee in the works.
Ruotolo is set to return from a nine-month layoff this weekend to defend his ONE welterweight submission grappling title against Dante Leon in the co-main event of ONE Fight Night 31 card in Bangkok.
But the 22-year-old has half an eye on following his twin brother Kade into mixed martial arts later this year – and revealed a fight with “The Phenom” Lee has been offered.
“Yes, 100 per cent I will be here scrapping [in MMA] by the end of the year, guaranteed,” Ruotolo told the Bangkok Post.
“I know someone was sending the Adrian Lee match out – I don’t even know if I’m allowed to talk about that or not. But it sounds sick, I’m down for it.
“Whoever they want to send my way, I’m ready for my debut match. I'm just excited to get in the ring. I’ve seen my brother do three MMA fights now and each time I was just chomping at the bit. I just wanted to get in there with him.”
American “Phenom” Lee is of course competing at lightweight, and Ruotolo confirmed he would be dropping down a division.
“Yeah, lightweight for MMA, 170 [pounds], that’s where I’ll be fighting for MMA,” he said. “Welterweight, 185, it’s a little bit heavy for me.
“I can make 170 for sure. The only reason that I don't is because Kade’s there. For MMA it will be a lot easier to fight smaller guys.”
It had look like Kade was all set to challenge 19-year-old Lee, who is also 3-0 in MMA in ONE.
But a knee injury has stalled the ONE lightweight submission grappling champ’s charge on two fronts.
“Kade right now is a little bit in the boat I was just in, a little bit injured,” Tye said. “He’s probably not stoked I’ve taken this match, but also I’m sure he’s excited to see me fight. He’s been wanting to watch me scrap for a while.
“That will be a sick debut match. I’ve been working with Kade and our MMA is coming along. It's not definitely not the greatest, but we’re getting there and I’m excited to showcase it for sure.”
Ruotolo’s pending transition to a new sport throws up the potential issue of who may get to fight for the lightweight title first, should move into a position to challenge for gold. “It’s definitely gonna be interesting, yeah,” Ruotolo said. “I didn’t even think about that. Yeah, maybe go back and forth.
“Eventually I’ll probably have to move up, but that’s part of the game. When you have a twin, you gotta either go up or down.”
One thing’s for sure – the brothers will not be settling the matter in the cage.
“I don’t think I can run an elbow through Kade’s face. I don’t know – I hope it’s vice versa,” Ruotolo said, laughing.
“Jiu jitsu, we could for sure line it up one day. We train together every day. We don’t have a problem doing that but an mma match, that’s a lot.
“I can’t picture myself trying to knock out my bro.”
Ruotolo is set to return from a nine-month layoff this weekend to defend his ONE welterweight submission grappling title against Dante Leon in the co-main event of ONE Fight Night 31 card in Bangkok.
But the 22-year-old has half an eye on following his twin brother Kade into mixed martial arts later this year – and revealed a fight with “The Phenom” Lee has been offered.
“Yes, 100 per cent I will be here scrapping [in MMA] by the end of the year, guaranteed,” Ruotolo told the Bangkok Post.
“I know someone was sending the Adrian Lee match out – I don’t even know if I’m allowed to talk about that or not. But it sounds sick, I’m down for it.
“Whoever they want to send my way, I’m ready for my debut match. I'm just excited to get in the ring. I’ve seen my brother do three MMA fights now and each time I was just chomping at the bit. I just wanted to get in there with him.”
American “Phenom” Lee is of course competing at lightweight, and Ruotolo confirmed he would be dropping down a division.
“Yeah, lightweight for MMA, 170 [pounds], that’s where I’ll be fighting for MMA,” he said. “Welterweight, 185, it’s a little bit heavy for me.
“I can make 170 for sure. The only reason that I don't is because Kade’s there. For MMA it will be a lot easier to fight smaller guys.”
It had look like Kade was all set to challenge 19-year-old Lee, who is also 3-0 in MMA in ONE.
But a knee injury has stalled the ONE lightweight submission grappling champ’s charge on two fronts.
“Kade right now is a little bit in the boat I was just in, a little bit injured,” Tye said. “He’s probably not stoked I’ve taken this match, but also I’m sure he’s excited to see me fight. He’s been wanting to watch me scrap for a while.
“That will be a sick debut match. I’ve been working with Kade and our MMA is coming along. It's not definitely not the greatest, but we’re getting there and I’m excited to showcase it for sure.”
Ruotolo’s pending transition to a new sport throws up the potential issue of who may get to fight for the lightweight title first, should move into a position to challenge for gold. “It’s definitely gonna be interesting, yeah,” Ruotolo said. “I didn’t even think about that. Yeah, maybe go back and forth.
“Eventually I’ll probably have to move up, but that’s part of the game. When you have a twin, you gotta either go up or down.”
One thing’s for sure – the brothers will not be settling the matter in the cage.
“I don’t think I can run an elbow through Kade’s face. I don’t know – I hope it’s vice versa,” Ruotolo said, laughing.
“Jiu jitsu, we could for sure line it up one day. We train together every day. We don’t have a problem doing that but an mma match, that’s a lot.
“I can’t picture myself trying to knock out my bro.”
