Tye Ruotolo

Tye Ruotolo (born January 22, 2003) is an American submission grappler and mixed martial artist. A competitor with his twin brother Kade since the age of 3, Ruotolo is currently the youngest IBJJF World champion at black belt level in the history of the sport. Following promotion to black belt in December 2021, Ruotolo became a two division Who's Number One (WNO) champion, world champion at the 2022 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship, and a bronze medalist at the 2022 ADCC World Championship.

Background Born in Maui, Hawaii, of Italian and Puerto Rican heritage, Ruotolo was raised in Huntington Beach, California, and began competing in jiujitsu at age 3. Tye and his twin brother Kade were considered "grappling's first child-stars" and earned a sponsorship with RVCA at the age of 10.

Both Tye and his brother Kade were promoted to brown belts in BJJ by André Galvão in October 2020.

Black belt career In September 2021, Ruotolo became WNO 185 lb champion by defeating Johnny Tama, Dante Leon and Micael Galvão. Ruotolo submitted Kade by armbar. This meant that Ruotolo became the youngest IBJJF black belt world champion of all time.

In the 2022 ADCC World Championship, Ruotolo competed in the Absolute division against heavier opponents where he defeated Pedro Marinho and Felipe Pena before losing to Nicholas Meregali in a judge decision. Ruotolo obtained a bronze medal after Cyborg Abreu medically forfeited the bronze medal match.

Ruotolo competed in the IBJJF World Championship 2023 on June 3 and 4, 2023 and won a bronze medal in the middleweight division.

Ruotolo was originally scheduled to compete in the 2024 ADCC World Championship but he and his brother Kade withdrew in order to enter the under 80 kg division at the inaugural Craig Jones Invitational on August 16–17. Tye Ruotolo submitted Jason Nolf in the opening round and lost in the quarter-final to Levi Jones-Leary by referee decision.

ONE Championship On May 20, 2022, Ruotolo faced Garry Tonon at ONE 157 for his submission grappling debut in the promotion.

On December 3, 2022, Ruotolo faced former ONE Featherweight World Champion, Marat Gafurov in a submission grappling catchweight bout of 180 lbs at ONE on Prime Video 5. Ruotolo submitted Gafurov by triangle armbar.

Ruotolo was scheduled to face Reinier de Ridder on May 5, 2023, at ONE Fight Night 10. He won the match by unanimous decision. In his post-fight interview, Ruotolo challenged Nicholas Meregali to be his next opponent in ONE Championship.

Ruotolo competed against Dagi Arslanaliev at ONE Fight Night 13 on August 5, 2023. He won the match by rear-naked choke submission and was awarded a Performance of the Night bonus award.

Ruotolo competed against Magomed Abdulkadirov for the inaugural ONE Championship welterweight submission grappling title at ONE Fight Night 16 on November 3, 2023. He won the match by decision, winning the title and earning a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus.

Ruotolo was to make his first welterweight title-defense against Izaak Michell at ONE 166 on March 1, 2024. However, the bout was moved back to ONE Fight Night 21 on April 5, 2024, for unknown reasons. Ruotolo won the match by submission with an arm-in rear-naked choke.

Ruotolo competed in a catchweight match against Jozef Chen at ONE Fight Night 23 on July 6, 2024. He won the match by decision.

Ruotolo defended his ONE Championship welterweight title against Dante Leon at ONE Fight Night 31 on May 2, 2025. He won the match via unanimous decision.

Mixed martial arts career The contract that Ruotolo signed to compete in grappling matches for ONE Championship also included provisions for MMA fights as well. Both Tye and his brother Kade Ruotolo announced that they were going to make their professional mixed martial arts debuts before the end of 2023.

Ruotolo fought and defeated Adrian Lee with a submission via rear naked choke in his MMA debut at ONE Fight Night 35 on September 5, 2025.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitive summary Main Achievements: Who's Number One 2 x WNO Champion (170 lb & 185 lb) International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation 1st place IBJJF World Championship (2022) 3QG 2nd place 3QG Kumite 5 GP (2020) ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship 3rd place ADCC World Championship (2022) 4th place ADCC World Championship (2019)

Main Achievements (Juvenile + Colored belts ):

IBJJF World Champion (2019, 2021 brown belt) IBJJF European Champion (2019) 2nd place IBJJF European Championship (2019)

Instructor lineage Mitsuyo "Count Koma" Maeda → Carlos Gracie, Sr. → Helio Gracie → Rolls Gracie → Romero "Jacare" Cavalcanti → Alexandre Paiva → Fernando "Tererê" Augusto → André Galvao → Tye Ruotolo

Mixed martial arts record Win

Shozo Isojima Submission (rear-naked choke) ONE 173

Tokyo, Japan Win

Adrian Lee Submission (rear-naked choke) ONE Fight Night 35

Bangkok, Thailand