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ONE welterweight submission grappling world champion Tye Ruotolo has his sights set on conquering far bigger opponents once he's done taking out Brazilian jiu-jitsu's most elite in his current division.
The Atos representative and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt puts his 26 pounds of gold on the line against Canadian ground game technician Dante Leon in their trilogy bout in the co-main event of ONE Fight Night 31 inside the legendary Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 2.
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While fully focused on the immediate task of defending his throne against his longtime rival, the 22-year-old martial artist has revealed ambitious plans that extend beyond the 185-pound division.
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"That's all I care about—making sure that there's no one around my size that can beat me," Tye Ruotolo told JitsMagazine in a pre-fight exchange.
He added:
"And then, I want to take down the giants, too, when there's one that I really look forward to."
The ONE world champion specifically mentioned two dream heavyweight rematches that are on his radar.
"Eventually, we'll get that Gordon [Ryan] match and the [Nicholas] Meregali rematch I wanted as well, but those guys are out right now. So, right now, I'm just focused on defending my title and staying healthy."
Watch his full interview with JitsMagazine here:
Tye Ruotolo full of confidence ahead of Dante Leon war
In the aforementioned interview, Tye Ruotolo shared his mindset heading into his trilogy against Dante Leon at ONE Fight Night 31. The Atos warrior, who submitted Leon in their rematch to make it 1-1 in their head-to-head rivalry, said:
"Confidence, yeah, it’s part of the mental heading into this one. It’s important, plus I got the win against him the last time out, too. So yeah, the confidence is there to beat Dante Leon and defend my gold."
ONE Fight Night 31 will be available to active Amazon Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada for free. The spectacle takes place in U.S. primetime this Friday, May 2.
