The most talented pair of brothers in jiu-jitsu today are each no longer just one sport athletes.
Tye Ruotolo’s twin brother Kade already got off to a hot start with a 3-0 pro MMA record, and now it is Tye’s turn, as the youngest-ever IBJJF world champion at black belt looks to start strong in a sport with strikes.
However Adrian Lee, his opponent on Friday at ONE Fight Night 35, may be the best fighter either brother will have faced.
Himself a member of the famous Lee family, brother to the biggest homegrown MMA stars in ONE Championship history including current double champion Christian Lee, Adrian is already 3-0 at just 19 years of age and has been training MMA almost his entire life.
Yet Tye is still confident, not only in his grappling pedigree, but in his hands as well, just like his brother who scored a knockdown against an experienced MMA fighter in Ahmed Mujtaba.
“I’ve been scrapping with my brother my whole life, you know, [we did] some Muay Thai growing up and we’ve always made it an emphasis to do some striking. We never [mixed] it up the way Adrian was, with MMA since he was a kid, you know, we kind of specialized in jiu-jitsu in that way, my brother and I. So, yeah, in that sense, you know, we’ve got a little bit less experience for sure, but, you know what? There’s not a whole bunch of nerves, honestly. I’ve been actually calmer than I thought I was going to be, you know? I figured for sure I’d be a little bit nervous coming into it. And there’s like the regular fight nerves, but nothing super extra. I’m more than anything that’s kind of excited and ready.”
Kade Ruotolo Drops And Submits Mujtaba at #ONE169
🎥: ONE Championship pic.twitter.com/Qd8Wq6qGmw
— Cageside Press (@Cagesidepress) November 9, 2024
Adrian has said he feels as though Tye is overlooking him, but the debutant says that is not the case.
“Yeah, I think he probably thinks that because I kind of called him out…it’s nothing personal, you know, for Adrian at all, I kind of think the seed got planted with some commentators and stuff, like, ‘Yeah, I’ll fight Adrian, why not?'”
“He’s a great grappler for sure, can’t take it away from him. He’s very well rounded…comes from a sick fighting family. You know, the Lees they’ve been in the game for a long time, and at the top of the game too. So, yeah, they’re going to be good from everywhere for sure. His Jiu Jitsu is definitely formidable. You know…it’s not maybe not the best I’ve ever seen, but it definitely wins him most of his fights in ONE for sure. So it’s better than most, definitely not undermining him in any category.”
Battle of the Brothers.
Kade Ruotolo vs Tye Ruotolo
IBJJF 2021 World Championship pic.twitter.com/sey8asgvJG
— Lock-In Jiu-Jitsu (@lockinjiujitsu) August 16, 2024
“I want to be the best of both for sure”
Tye also realizes that MMA carries its own intricacies that differ from the sport where he already is a world champion, but he and his team are well-prepared.
“MMA is a tricky thing because there’s so many different sports in MMA, right? And so it’s so easy to kind of get caught up on one or the other. And at the end of the day, it’s a fight, you know, like it’s MMA, but also it’s a fight, and you got to do what you got to do to win the fight, you know? So, I’m not going in there thinking I’m going to point score, like try to keep my guard here and there, or set up these combos. It’s going to be a fight.
“At the of the day, sometimes that’s what people forget. And then there’s a big kind of transition process, you know, not that I’m speaking from much experience, you know, but just from what I’ve been working [on] with my brother and the team, it’s kind of, the consensus we’ve created. We just, we’re putting in the work and…we’re ready on September 6th for it to pay off.”
Although it may be difficult to do both to the fullest extent, Tye Ruotolo wants to be a special athlete and be the best in both jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts.
“It’s definitely a lot of energy that has to go both ways, you know in different places, so I’m just trying to keep the vessel together and tackle both…I want to be the best of both for sure, it’s not easy, it’s a lot to do so I just got to keep at it day by day, you know?”
We also got into a bit of technical talk, about why the d’Arce, a signature submission of the Ruotolos, has seen more and more usage every year in MMA.
“Growing up, it was the weirdest thing, I didn’t see it very much, but for some reason it was always [me and my brother’s] favorite technique…There’s videos of us in the gi as white belts, like little four year olds, just shooting d’Arces. For whatever reason, we just always loved it.
“But yeah you’re seeing that it’s a great way to control your opponent, you know? So you’re seeing it a lot more and you can pretty much hit it from almost anywhere, which is kind of kind of cool and so you’ve seen it from a lot of different places now that you weren’t seeing it from before and it’s just a really effective submission. And in MMA it’s a good way to control your opponent and that’s probably why you’ve seen it a little bit more. But yeah, it’s interesting how, like I’d say a decade ago even there wasn’t much d’Arces going around, you know, just here and there compared to how it is now, yeah.”
Tye Ruotolo Submits Gary Tonon pic.twitter.com/1H12jc9v80
— Lock-In Jiu-Jitsu (@lockinjiujitsu) August 4, 2025
As for predicting the upcoming fight? Well Tye thinks a d’Arce is extremely likely here. The jiu-jitsu phenom expects an early submission, but is aware of the potential for a three round war.
“I think I get it done in the first 90 seconds with the submission. Yeah, that’s just off my gut feeling…I was thinking something from the back, yeah maybe d’Arce. The odds of a d’Arce happening are always so high. I’d say either d’Arce or choke from the back.”
“I also think, you know, if I don’t sub him in the first minute, we could end up going to bang for a couple of rounds. I’m prepared for both, you know, and I’m not expecting to roll over him, I’m not expecting him to be a slouch. I think he…was kind of thinking that I don’t think much of him, but no, I’m not stupid.”
The full interview can be watched here.
Absolutely vicious reverse triangle, spine crank and foot lock chain from Tye Ruotolo and brilliant survival instincts and toughness from Jason Nolf pic.twitter.com/4NwMdut0cN
— Josie Aldo (@JosieAldoMMA) August 17, 2024
Tye Ruotolo fights Adrian Lee in a lightweight bout on the main card of ONE Fight Night 35, on Amazon Prime Video at 8pm EST/5pm PST, live from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
