"I think my hands are better" - Tye Ruotolo wants to take on Garry Tonon in MMA

Tye Ruotolo already holds a win over Garry Tonon in the realm of submission grappling. He now wants one in mixed martial arts.

The two grappling technicians locked horns at ONE 157: Petchmorakot vs. Vienot, with the young Ruotolo taking the submission win last Friday at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Ruotolo locked in a devastating D’Arce choke forcing Tonon to submit 1:37 into the contest, which was his first match in ONE Championship.

During the post-fight virtual press conference, Ruotolo said he’d love to go into MMA and challenge Tonon in the sport, and just maybe get another win over ‘The Lion Killer’.

Tye Ruotolo said:

“I think it’d be fun for the fans for sure. I think he’s 6-1 in MMA and he just came off a title fight… So now it’d be really cool to have the opportunity to fight Garry for sure in MMA. I think after my performance tonight I kind of deserve it. In jiu-jitsu, I proved that I’m better than him in the most humble way possible.”

He added:

“I think my hands are better than his too, just being realistic. So, I’d love to fight him in MMA.”

Ruotolo was built up as one of the best submission artists of his generation, and his resume does back it up. The 19-year-old holds a WNO title and became the youngest person to reach the semifinals of the ADCC when he was just 16 in 2019.

Tonon, however, is one of the top fighters in ONE Championship. The 30-year-old is the No.4 contender in the featherweight division and last challenged Thanh Le for the ONE featherweight world title.

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Tye Ruotolo stoked to get a win for Atos

The match between Tye Ruotolo and Tonon wasn’t just between the two, it was also between their respective teams, Atos and Danaher Death Squad.

The two gyms pride themselves as the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu schools in the world and for Ruotolo to get a win over Tonon was just another chapter in the rivalry.

Discussing that, Ruotolo said:

“I don’t think it could’ve gone any better for sure. That’d be a really good guy to get a submission win over like that. Garry’s a legend of the sport so to get the D’Arce over him in that amount of time, I’m super stoked.”

Ruotolo said that getting a win over Tonon was huge, but taking the victory against one of the best fighters out of DDS was also as sweet.

“You know a little bit of a rivalry or you could say that DDS and Atos and that felt really sweet to get the win for my team.”