{"id":543968,"date":"2026-03-18T06:29:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T06:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/543968\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T06:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T06:29:13","slug":"tye-ruotolo-eager-for-mma-family-feud-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/543968\/","title":{"rendered":"Tye Ruotolo Eager For MMA Family Feud In 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tye Ruotolo is still the ONE Welterweight Submission Grappling World Champion. The California native made his third successful title defense at ONE Fight Night 41<\/a> last Friday at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, turning back a spirited challenge from IBJJF No-Go World Champion Pawel Jaworski via unanimous decision after 10 hard-fought minutes.<\/p>\n

Jaworski pushed the defending titleholder harder than many expected, matching Ruotolo\u2019s intensity across the full duration of the match and refusing to be put away despite the American\u2019s relentless submission hunting. In the end, it was Tye Ruotolo\u2019s continuous aggression and pressure that swayed the judges.<\/p>\n

The victory moves Tye Ruotolo\u2019s grappling record to 37-12 and extends a remarkable unbeaten run in ONE Championship. He wasted no time setting his sights on bigger things, issuing a bold callout in the post-fight interview that could deliver one of the most intriguing cross-family rivalries the promotion has ever seen.<\/p>\n

Tye Ruotolo Opens with Spectacular Spear to Set the Tone Against Jaworski
\n\"Tye<\/a>Image Courtesy of ONE Championship.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old announced his intentions<\/a> from the very first second. Champion Tye Ruotolo opened the bout with a spear,<\/a> a move borrowed from professional wrestling, catching Jaworski completely off guard and immediately setting the tempo for what was to come.<\/p>\n

It was the kind of unexpected opening gambit that only a fighter with supreme confidence in his own creativity would attempt on the global stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just sent it on the ropes, and that\u2019s a hard move to defend. My opponent did not even try to defend. He looked like a deer in the headlights. It worked out pretty well. I was stoked. It felt good,\u201d the American stated.<\/p>\n

The move was a signal of intent more than a finishing attempt, but it framed the entire contest in Tye Ruotolo\u2019s favor from the opening exchange. The welterweight submission grappling king\u2019s 10-0 ONE record now extends to 11-0, with six of those victories having come via finish.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Welterweight King Tye Ruotolo Admits to Feeling Rusty After Heavy MMA Focus<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

For all the positives of a third successful title defense, Ruotolo was in no mood to paper over the cracks in his performance.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old spoke with the kind of self-awareness that has defined his approach throughout his career, acknowledging that his extended focus on MMA competition had taken a toll on the sharpness he normally brings to the submission grappling mat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt always feels good to come home with the belt, for sure. I felt a little rusty in there, to say the least. I\u2019m normally three or four steps ahead of my opponents. This time, I just felt a little slower than normal. A little rusty, and I think it\u2019s just a lack of training in jiu-jitsu and too much focus on MMA,\u201d Tye Ruotolo explained.<\/p>\n

Jaworski\u2019s heel hook threat kept the champion honest throughout, and the American\u2019s honest assessment suggests he knows there is a sharper version of himself still to come when he returns to full grappling preparation.<\/p>\n

Ruotolos Versus Lees?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The post-fight interview took a dramatic turn when Tye Ruotolo called out brothers Adrian Lee and two-division ONE MMA World Champion Christian Lee, planting the seed for a cross-family showdown that immediately captured the imagination.<\/p>\n

After issuing the initial callout, the champion elaborated on what he had in mind and why he believes the concept deserves serious consideration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think they\u2019d be open to that, but I was meaning it for MMA \u2013 [us against] the Lees. I think Adrian called me out after his last fight, which I saw somewhere. So, I just thought, man, instead of fighting Adrian again, it\u2019d be sick if we had the Ruotolos versus the Lees on one card. That would be super interesting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The prospect of pitting the Ruotolo brothers against the Lee brothers on a single card touches on one of combat sports\u2019 most compelling narratives \u2013\u00a0sibling rivalries playing out across weight classes on the grandest stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tye Ruotolo is still the ONE Welterweight Submission Grappling World Champion. The California native made his third successful…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82],"class_list":["post-543968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}