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Australian BJJ star Izaak Michell will face Tye Ruotolo for the ONE welterweight submission grappling world title at ONE Fight Night 21 on April 5. This will be the first time the Aussie fights for a world title in his young career.
Ahead of his bout against Ruotolo, Michell was featured by ONE Championship on Instagram, showcasing his amazing way of countering a double-leg takedown. The caption of the post read:
"Airborne ✈️ Can Izaak Michell dethrone Tye Ruotolo on April 5 when he challenges for the ONE Welterweight Submission Grappling World Title at ONE Fight Night 21 on @primevideo? @izaakmichellbjj"
To counter a double-leg takedown, grapplers would usually sprawl first, land on the front face-lock position, and then spin around to take the back of their opponent. That's at least three steps to get to the back.
What Michell did here was, in one insanely athletic maneuver, skip all those steps and show how to jump straight into the back. The way he anticipated the level change then throw himself in the air in such a way that would make him land behind his opponent needs to be studied.
Izaak Michell may face Tye Ruotolo again at ADCC Worlds 2024 after ONE Fight Night 21
As it turns out, Izaak Michell and Tye Ruotolo may cross paths again after their world title fight at ONE Fight Night 21. The two grappling phenoms will take part in the "Olympics of Grappling", the 2024 ADCC World Championships.
Both Michell and Ruotolo will compete in the -88kg category, both vying for the gold medal of the massive 10-man bracket.
On possibly running into Ruotolo again at 2024 ADCC, Michell told ONE:
“Yeah, that's a really exciting matchup. So Tye and I, I thought we would fight during the last ADCC. We were in the 88-kg bracket together, so we're going to end up being in the same bracket later on in the year at ADCC. So, we both knew that we were going to one day come against each other.”
Whoever loses the world title bout will want to avenge it at ADCC. If he wins, then we'll have a possible trilogy bout at our hands. This budding rivalry just got really interesting.
ONE Fight Night 21 will air live on US Primetime free of charge for existing Prime Video subscribers in North America.
