"She's the gnarliest fighter" - Tye Ruotolo says his ultra-competitive side comes from his mother
Tye Ruotolo humbly credits his mother for developing his warrior spirit.
On Friday night, Ruotolo was featured in the ONE Fight Night 21 co-main event, where he was tasked with defending his welterweight submission grappling world title for the first time. Standing in the 21-year-old's way was promotional newcomer Izaak Michell, who failed to shock the world.
After four minutes of action, Ruotolo secured back control and locked in a "Ruotolotine," which was cleverly coined by Kade Ruotolo earlier in the night. Michell was forced to tap out, extending the American superstar's ONE record to 6-0.
During his in-ring post-fight interview, Ruotolo shouted out his mother for influencing his $50,000 performance bonus win:
"I want to thank my family at home too. My mom, you know what, I learned to fight like this because of my mom. I had the pleasure of training with so many jiu-jitsu legends over the years and I've technically evolved so much through all of them. But this is my mom inside of me right here. She's the gnarliest fighter I know. So that's where I get it from."
The replay of ONE Fight Night 21, including Tye Ruotolo's world title defense, can be seen for free by North American and Canadian viewers with an active Prime Video subscription.
Tye Ruotolo's twin brother, Kade Ruotolo, also secures win at ONE Fight Night 21
Before Tye Ruotolo defended his world title, Kade Ruotolo competed in a catchweight submission grappling match during the preliminary card. The ONE lightweight world champion temporarily left his throne to face the highly-touted Francisco Lo.
Similar to his brother, Kade exceeded his expectations by taking out Lo with an arm-in rear-naked choke. He later named the technique as "The Ruotolotine," leading to Tye finishing his match with the same submission to put the jiu-jitsu world on notice.
Kade will now focus on his professional MMA debut, as he's scheduled to fight Blake Cooper inside the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand, on June 7 at ONE 167.