Tye Ruotolo

Tye Ruotolo profile

Tye Ruotolo is the youngest IBJJF black belt world champion in the history of the sport and is 11-0 in ONE Championship across submission grappling and MMA. Born in Maui on 22 January 2003, minutes after his twin brother Kade.

Sixteen, a blue belt, and the ADCC semi-finals

At the 2019 ADCC World Championship he competed at sixteen as a blue belt, two ranks below black, and finished fourth — the youngest competitor ever to reach the semi-finals of that event.

He was later promoted to black belt by seven-time BJJ world champion André Galvão alongside his twin.

Beating a legend on debut

His first ONE appearance was a win over Garry Tonon, “The Lion Killer”, one of the most recognisable names in submission grappling for a decade.

In November 2023 he beat Russia's Magomed Abdulkadirov for the inaugural ONE welterweight submission grappling world title. He competes a division heavier than his twin despite being two centimetres shorter.

The same game inside a cage

Moving into MMA changed nothing about his approach. He submitted Adrian Lee — younger brother of two-division champion Christian Lee — in round two at ONE Fight Night 35, then submitted Shoso Isojima inside one round at ONE 173 in Tokyo.

His most recent bout was a unanimous decision over Pawel Jaworski under grappling rules at ONE Fight Night 41, so he is still moving between the two rulesets without losing.

Eleven fights, no defeats

Eleven wins, six by submission, a 55 percent finish rate and an average fight time of three minutes and fifty-eight seconds.

Record

Scope: ONE Championship · last verified 5 October 2026