“Only thing that's missing is the strikes” - Tye Ruotolo eager to throw hands in potential MMA debut
BJJ black belt Tye Ruotolo is ready to throw hands when he gets the chance to showcase his complete skills in an MMA debut, following the footsteps of his brother, Kade.
After taking the victory over young newcomer Jozef Chen at ONE Fight Night 23 last week, Ruotolo seems to have reached a new level of understanding on where he wants to go next.
The ONE welterweight submission grappling world champion feels the itch to get his hands on any opponent in a future MMA action after watching his twin brother succeed in his own pro-MMA debut recently.
Speaking to South China Morning Post after his fight with Chen, the BJJ superstar said about his eagerness to throw some leather:
"100 percent, you know. My brother and my style of jiu-jitsu is very aggressive, you know. And oftentimes, we put our opponents where we want to, you know, and the only thing that's missing from when we do that is the strikes."
He added:
"So yeah, I'm excited to be able to throw down some punches and not just have to be handicapped with the jiu-jitsu for sure."
Although his MMA debut is not yet set in stone, any chance we get to see the Ruotolo brothers throw punches would be something not to miss.
Tye Ruotolo weighs in on twin brother Kade's match with Mikey Musumeci
On the other hand, the path for the Ruotolo brothers in submission grappling has yet to come to a halt.
At ONE 168: Denver, Tye Ruotolo will definitely be in his brother's corner as the ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade faces probably one of his biggest tasks yet in fellow superstar Mikey Musumeci.
The single-round match inside Denver's Ball Arena has been touted as a dream fight for every BJJ fan, where two of the world's best pound-for-pound grapplers will collide in search of the gold.
Tye told Sportskeeda MMA in a recent interview about his brother's upcoming match:
"It's going to be epic. I'm so excited to see that. Mikey is such a beast, so technical, and so is my brother. So for sure, it's going to be good for jiu-jitsu. It's the most exciting guys. Yeah, it will be epic."
Tickets for ONE 168: Denver on Sept. 6 are available on Ticketmaster.