Tye Ruotolo feels bad he couldn't submit Jozef Chen: "I always do my best to make a good show"
Tye Ruotolo always wants to honor the decorated history of Lumpinee Stadium by putting on thrilling grappling matches inside the legendary arena. The reigning ONE welterweight submission grappling world champion has been a fixture in the 'Mecca of Muay Thai' in Bangkok, Thailand, where the majority of his matches in the home of martial arts took place.
This included his most recent outing against Jozef Chen at ONE Fight Night 23 last July 5.
While Ruotolo was able to beat his South African foe via unanimous decision after 10 minutes of pure action, he regrets being unable to secure the finish.
In his post-event interview with the South China Morning Post, the Atos standout admitted he wanted to impress the Lumpinee crowd, who have been used to watching brutal knockouts over the years:
"I always do my best to make a good show for the fans. I can't watch, you know, seeing these guys getting knocked out with bloody elbows and then going to a boring jiu-jitsu match, you know?"
To be fair, Ruotolo's masterful performance against Chen was anything but boring.
It was a beautiful mix of technical mastery and incredible athleticism, which is pretty much the whole essence of 'The Gentle Art.'
Watch Ruotolo's full SCMP MMA interview:
Tye Ruotolo says bothersome neck held him back at ONE Fight Night 23
Tye Ruotolo has been dealing with some lingering neck issues since his 'Ruotolotine' finish of Izaak Michell last April.
While he still looked sharp against Chen, the 21-year-old revealed the issues that bothered him throughout the match. He said:
"I can really just sit here and make a bunch of excuses. But just within my camp, I was sick for most of it. And even before the fight, I was feeling a bit off. I've been going through a couple of little neck things. It has kind of been affecting a little bit of my nerve, the vagus nerve."
Prime Video subscribers in North America can rewatch the replay of Tye Ruotolo's impressive win, along with the rest of the full card on demand.