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Submission grappling superstars Tye Ruotolo and Gordon Ryan are heating up social media with some ballistic back-and-forth.
Tye Ruotolo, whose twin brother Kade recently became the inaugural ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion, made headlines of his own after calling out arguably the best no-gi grappler of all time.
The 19-year-old BJJ savant instigated things when he publicly challenged Ryan to a match.
Ruotolo wrote:
“Remember that Darce at Modolfo? It would be competitive now and I’m 19 and natural. I guarantee you retire before I gain 15 pounds. Pure facts, no ill intent. Let’s do the same deal you did with Pena. No time limit.”
The Atos product seems to be referencing the star-studded training camp sparring in Modolfo, Italy, where the Ruotolo brothers, who were much younger at the time, were catching Ryan with submissions in training.
Not one to back away from a challenge, Ryan fired back and dared Ruotolo to put his money where his mouth is – literally.
“How about you put up your 50k win bonus from ONE and I'll put up my same 100k that I did with pena? 2-1 odds no time limit. Just remember, I'm not Josh hinger, and you couldn't beat him.”
Ryan, a feared Danaher Death Squad (DDS) member, was referring to the cool $50,000 bonus Ruotolo received in his promotional debut at ONE 157 this past May.
Tye Ruotolo caught Ryan’s former DDS teammate Garry Tonon with one of his signature D’Arce chokes to force the tap.
Relieve the Ruotolo vs. Tonon scrap below:
It is also worth noting that both grapplers participated in the 2022 ADCC World Championships, albeit in different weight divisions.
Bucheca is in awe of Tye Ruotolo's evolution
While Tye Ruotolo recently earned the ire of an ADCC great, he did receive some kind words from another BJJ legend.
Decorated grappling world champion Marcus ‘Bucheca’ Almeida, who now competes in MMA under the ONE banner, was in awe of just how far the Ruotolo twins have come in such a short amount of time.
‘Buchecha’ shared in an interview with ONE Championship:
“I've known the Ruotolo brothers since they were very young, still a green belt, yellow belt… I even attended their first seminar when they were still children. So, I've known them both for a long time. I followed their evolution closely. I always exchanged a lot of ideas with them. But the first opportunity we had to train was now. There was a press conference in Los Angeles and everyone met at RVCA. I've always had a friendship with them, but I only had the opportunity to train with them once.”
