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Tye Ruotolo could be suiting up the four-ounce gloves sooner rather than later.
Before he does, though, he must first defend his ONE welterweight submission grappling world title against familiar foe Dante Leon at ONE Fight Night 31 on Friday, US primetime, at the historic Lumpinee Stadium.
In an interview with JitsMagazine, Tye admitted that he's been getting more excited about the prospect of joining his twin brother Kade in MMA.
Kade is the reigning ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion and has carved out a strong 3-0 run in his young MMA career.
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"And the older I get, the more things are exciting to me with this MMA stuff. There's a lot of opportunity out there and I'm just happy to be healthy and I'm ready to start chasing them down for sure."
The twin brothers have been working on their striking game since 2023, with Tye and Kade training with ONE featherweight kickboxing world champion Superbon and former ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world champion Nong-O Hama during their previous trips to Bangkok.
Kade ultimately made his transition to MMA in 2024 when he beat Blake Cooper via submission at ONE 167.
Tye, meanwhile, remained focused on his submission grappling career and looks to maintain his perfect streak in ONE Championship.
The 22-year-old is 7-0 in the promotion and is coming off a dominant unanimous decision win over Jozed Chen at ONE Fight Night 23.
Tye now looks to retain his throne against Leon, a two-time IBJJF No-Gi world champion, in their highly anticipated trilogy match.
ONE Fight Night 31 is available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.
Watch Tye Ruotolo's entire interview below:
Tye Ruotolo amped up for his trilogy match against Dante Leon
This may be the first time they'll square off in ONE Championship, but Tye Ruotolo and Dante Leon already share a fair bit of history against each other.
The two met twice before signing with the promotion, and are locked in a 1-1 stalemate since their last matchup in 2021.
Leon got the first win in their rivalry when he took a referee's decision victory over Tye at Grapplefest 8 in 2020. Tye evened the score a year later when he submitted Leon with a Guillotine choke at Who's Number One.
In an interview with ONE Championship, Tye said:
"Yeah, that's my main goal whenever I step in there, it is to be entertaining first and foremost. And then it's to win."
