Kade Ruotolo and Tye Ruotolo both made successful ONE Championship debuts last Friday. The former scored a decision win over Shinya Aoki while the latter submitted Garry Tonon.
Aoki is the two time ONE Championship lightweight champion while Tonon previously challenged for the featherweight strap. Having beaten them in submission grappling both brothers are interested in rematching under MMA rules.
Tye says he would like to challenge Tonon to an MMA fight,
“I think it would be really cool to have the opportunity to fight Garry in MMA. I think after my performance tonight, I kind of deserve it. In jiu-jitsu, I proved that I’m better than him in the most humble way possible. And I think that my hands are better than his too, so I would love to fight him in MMA.”
Tye Ruotolo WOWED the CROWD with this D'Arce choke against Garry Tonon at ONE 157! 💪#ONE157 #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/7WwRZ9ULBQ
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) May 22, 2022
Same result
Kade says it is a matter of when, not if, the two brothers turn to MMA but believes it won’t be until the end of the year,
“We have a few more things we really want to accomplish this year. We want to get a couple more ONE submission grappling events under our belt, and I still have that big ADCC event in September. But as soon as possible after that, basically the towards the end of the year or maybe early next year, we’ll be stepping foot in the circle with the gloves this time.”
He would also be open to facing the vastly experienced Aoki under MMA rules,
“If he’s up for it, I’d love to (face Aoki in an MMA fight). That’d be an amazing first match for me to step foot in the MMA scene. I felt pretty dominant here tonight. And I feel like I would have the same result in MMA.”
The only disappointment for Kade is that he didn’t manage to finish Aoki at ONE 157,
“That was a huge, huge win for me. Shinya is a very tough opponent, one of the best jiu-jitsu practitioners to ever do it in the MMA scene and jiu-jitsu scene. I thought for sure I was going to get the submission. I guess that is why I’m a bit disappointed at the moment. But at the same time, there were a couple of cool moments in the match.”
Kade Ruotolo goes airborne 😳#ONE157 #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/WAmlHhx745
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) May 21, 2022
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His brother picked up a $50,000 USD performance bonus for submitting but promised to share the cash with Kade,
“We probably will (split the performance bonus between us). It’s going towards our gym that we’re going to be building in Costa Rica, for sure. I can’t wait to get that up and running, and then we’ll be training in paradise.”
He was delighted to submit Tonon who is a big name in submission grappling circles,
“I don’t think it could have gone any better. Garry’s a legend in the sport. So to get the d’Arce over him in that amount of time, I’m super, super, super stoked. Over the moon for sure.”
He says submitting Tonon is no easy feat,
“Garry’s known as the escape artist. So he’s definitely got a bunch of different exit routes from different positions, so I was definitely just stoked to be able to see that opportunity, catch it, and finish it.”
Tye sounds as if he is in more of a hurry than his brother to make that transition to MMA. He hinted that he might be switching codes for his next fight,
“Honestly, I really don’t know who I want next in jiu-jitsu. Maybe an MMA debut. My brother and I are really scratching for that. But yeah, either. I’m really down to fight anybody in the world.. Big or small. I’m just ready to go.”
