Tye Ruotolo and twin brother Kade have sibling rivalry in MMA: “I had to get competitive”

Kade Ruotolo's dream start to MMA only ignited his twin brother Tye Ruotolo's competitive fire to give himself a go in the all-encompassing discipline.

Per the latter, who kicked off his professional MMA debut via a second-round rear-naked choke submission of Adrian Lee at ONE Fight Night 35, he didn't want to let his brother pull a massive lead over him in the sport.

While addressing the media at the event's post-fight press conference last Friday, September 5, Tye Ruotolo said:

"I had to get competitive with him and make sure that he wasn’t too far ahead of me, you know, how it is having a twin, it sucks when he’s too far ahead in one department."

The ONE welterweight submission grappling world champion didn't look like a fish out of water despite going up against a tricky opponent like Adrian, younger brother to the reigning two-division ONE MMA world champion Christian Lee.

The 22-year-old went toe-to-toe against the 19-year-old even in the striking department before taking the fight to the canvas, where he achieved yet another US$50,000 performance bonus-winning finish.

His fight and the entire ONE Fight Night 35 card will be available via replay for free on Amazon Prime Video to North American fans.

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Tye Ruotolo needs a couple more victories to catch up with Kade in MMA

With his win inside the Mecca of Muay Thai last week, Tye Ruotolo acquired his first MMA win of his career. He'll need a couple more victories to catch up with his twin brother, Kade.

The ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion opened his account in the discipline with a rear-naked choke win over Blake Cooper at ONE 167.

In his second fight at ONE 169 in November last year, he tapped Ahmed Mujtaba with a vicious D'Arce choke in 64 seconds.

Most recently, Kade acquired an arm-triangle choke finish of Nicolas Vigna at ONE 171: Qatar this past February. All of his victories were achieved in the first round.

With both Ruotolos competing in the lightweight MMA division, it might be possible that the twins, submission grappling's most feared superstars, could cross paths on martial arts' grandest stage in the future.