Tye Ruotolo confident he will prove superior to Adrian Lee at ONE Fight Night 35: “It’s a very different level”

While ONE welterweight submission grappling world champion Tye Ruotolo acknowledges Adrian Lee’s elite ground game, he believes there is still a significant skill gap between them.

These two prodigies will clash at ONE Fight Night 35 on Prime Video this coming Friday, September 5, in a lightweight MMA contest at Bangkok’s iconic Lumpinee Stadium.

Aptly dubbed ‘The Phenom’, Lee holds a perfect 3-0 professional record, having dominated every opponent so far with scintillating submissions.

That said, the 19-year-old is extremely confident he can hold his own against the BJJ savant Ruotolo in the grappling department.

Speaking to ONE in his pre-fight interview, Ruotolo admitted he is impressed by Lee’s skills, given his knowledge of Hawaii’s tough grappling scene.

"I know he's won a lot of the NAGAs in Hawaii, right? He's definitely won some NAGA championships,and back in the day, my brother and I went over there, did NAGA, and scrapped in it, and it's tough."

The youngest IBJJF world champion continued:

“NAGA in Hawaii is like the championships over there because they don't have the [World] Championships, right? So, that's like the biggest comp over there. But at the end of the day, it's a very, very different level than what my brother and I are."

While respectful of Lee’s credentials, Tye Ruotolo enters his MMA debut with all the confidence in the world, especially in his superior grappling.

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Tye Ruotolo says beating Adrian Lee will be start of a dominant MMA run

Tye Ruotolo already conquered the grappling world, and he intends to do the same in mixed martial arts.

According to the 22-year-old BJJ ace, his trial by fire against the phenomenal Adrian Lee is just the beginning of greater things to come.

The Atos standout told ONE Championship:

"Once I started fighting those guys, I realized … all these guys, I can beat them. And so that's what led me to be motivated to scrap with the bigger guys."

North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription can watch this explosive lightweight clash and the entire ONE Fight Night 35 card live in U.S. primetime for free.