"Came close to a seizure" - Tye Ruotolo reveals the severity of his neck issue prior to Jozef Chen clash
Tye Ruotolo was happy to win at ONE Fight Night 23 in difficult circumstances. He always expects a lot from himself when stepping into a contest, but this particular outing was different.
Tye earned the decision win against Jozef Chen at Lumpinee Stadium and was disappointed to have not got the finish.
However, as he revealed after the match-up, he was dealing with some difficult health concerns that date back to his last appearance at ONE Fight Night 21 in April.
Ruotolo had mentioned back when he submitted Izaak Michell that his neck was becoming a concern for him.
He spoke in an interview with Sportskeeda MMA after beating Chen about how this is still an issue for him that requires attention:
"After my last match with Izaak Michell, I had some crazy Vagus nerve reaction. Kind of almost came close to a seizure and kind of locked up my neck for a while. To be honest with you, my neck has been real stiff since that match, so I was just kind of avoiding it. It really just kind of makes me feel weak, you know? Something weak with the nerve. But over it, it's all good. On to the next one."
Watch the full interview below:
Tye Ruotolo came out on top regardless
World-class competitors don't always need to be performing at their peaks in order to come away with the win, they find a way, and that's what Tye Ruotolo did on July 5.
Even with his neck issues that made him feel compromised going into the contest with a highly regarded competitor, he was able to do what he needed to do.
Despite feeling like he should have got the finish, it was still an incredibly impressive display from Ruotolo, given the circumstances that he found himself in before making the walk.
The full replay of ONE Fight Night 23 is available on demand for Prime Video subscribers in North America.