“Tye should be my next opponent” - ‘Uncle’ Shinya Aoki wants to test his skills against Tye Ruotolo

‘Tobikan Judan’ Shinya Aoki wants to take a stab at Tye Ruotolo in his next submission grappling match.

This past May, Aoki squared off with Tye’s twin brother Kade at ONE 157 and had a great experience rolling with the teenage prodigy on the grand stage. During fight week, the Ruotolo twins and Aoki stayed at the same hotel in Singapore and got along well away from the circle.

In an exclusive interview with ONE Championship, Aoki's attention was directed at the Instagram photo he posted back in May with the caption, “It was fun uncle." The promotion asked Aoki why the twins gave him that nickname.

He responded:

"That was my idea. In my opinion, Tye should be my next opponent. I like this new challenge, and I am open to grappling with anybody.”

As many sports fans know, Shinya Aoki is a walking chameleon. Whether it’s MMA or submission grappling, the 39-year-old icon is game for anybody. Believing there’s always room for improvement and never letting ego get in the way of learning new techniques is why Aoki is still one of the top dogs to beat at ONE Championship.

Like his brother Kade, Tye Ruotolo is also a force to be reckoned with on the mats. He made an impact on his promotional debut on the same night against legendary BJJ star ‘The Lion Killer’ Garry Tonon, submitting him within the first minute via D’Arce choke.

A couple of months back, Tye suffered a shocking opening round loss in the 88-kilogram weight class of the 2022 ADCC World Championships. However, he scored back-to-back wins against legends and much heavier competitors in Pedro Marinho and Felipe Pena in the absolute (no weight limit) division.

Needless to say, a potential matchup with Tye could give Aoki another opportunity to test his skills with the next generation of superstars in the sport.

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Kade Ruotolo wants to square off with Shinya Aoki under MMA rules

Everyone who’s anyone wants to fight Shinya Aoki. Dagestani fighter Saygid Izagakhmaev will next be in line to square off against the Japanese legend at ONE 163 on November 18. Kade is also hopeful he can one day face ‘Tobikan Judan’ under MMA rules.

Kade has said before that he’s working on making his transition from BJJ to MMA, and is really intrigued by a future matchup with the Japanese legend. In the post-fight interview at ONE 157, after he beat Aoki by decision in a grappling match, he said:

“I think a very interesting fight would be Shinya Aoki. It would kinda be a cool rematch. He fought me in a grappling bout, MMA would be very intriguing as well. I fought him in my world, it would be really cool to fight him in his world. Maybe next year we can get that going.”