ONE Championship welterweight submission grappling champion Tye Ruotolo is one of the most dangerous grapplers on the planet. At 19, Ruotolo cemented his legacy in the sport by becoming the youngest grappler to win a world title in the black belt division in the International Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu Federation. Two years later, Ruotolo still finds ways to raise the bar and take BJJ to new heights.
Despite being only 19, Jozef Chen is already turning heads in the world of jiu-jitsu. What is it about his game that makes him dangerous?
Ruotolo: He’s an extremely technical individual. You know Jozef’s been beating a lot of higher-level guys, submitting them with just pure technique and that’s something that really impresses me. As a grappler, I look around and do a little bit of studying, but I don’t study a whole bunch of people’s games. Jozef Chen is someone that I’ve done a lot of studying before I even accepted the match. He intrigues me a lot because he doesn’t use much power behind his movements. With all the bigger guys I’ve been fighting, I know that Jozef isn’t that big, but he’s going to have pure technique for me. I’m really excited about that because I haven’t had a match like that in a while.
You, your brother Kade, Jozef Chen and other young grapplers are taking the sport by storm. What does this new generation of jiu-jitsu players bring to the table?
Ruotolo: This generation is really good at finding the submission. You’ve seen guys like Jozef Chen, Mica Galvao and William Tackett, all of whom are next-generation guys who would do anything to submit their opponent. For me, I’d rather lose doing my best trying to submit my opponent and put on an amazing show for everyone than I would be stalling my way to a victory. I don’t find any satisfaction in that whatsoever. I’m sure a lot of the same guys in my generation feel the same. Jiu-jitsu’s growing right now; you’re seeing these million-dollar tournaments and it’s motivating to put on good performances because the more we do that, the more opportunity we’re bringing to the sport.
You and Kade were expected to compete at the ADCC World Championships this summer, but you both opted out to participate in the newly formed Craig Jones Invitational. What was the reasoning behind your decision?
Ruotolo: It was a hard decision for sure. Kade and I have a ton of respect for ADCC. We always grew up watching the tournaments and with Kade being an ADCC champion, that’s something I still want under my belt. So yeah, it was a hard decision, but right now, in our careers, it makes so much more financial sense. It’s also going to be a very prestigious tournament as well. With the Craig Jones Invitational, it’s not the ADCC but prestige I think it’s going to be right there with it, and it’s going to be a groundbreaking event. There were a couple of different factors for my brother and me too. On the day before weigh-ins at ADCC, one of us had to compete at 88 kilograms [194 pounds], and we couldn’t compete in the same division. So overall it’s the ability to close out with my brother. That’s hard to beat, you know? Kade and I in the finals for $1 million is a dream that I would’ve never thought of growing up. I’m so stoked and grateful for that opportunity, and I’m definitely not going to let it slip through my fingers.
Given that you and Kade are in the same division, would you still train together before the tournament? Also, what excites you most about potentially facing your brother?
Ruotolo: I thought it would be cool if one of us did our camp in San Diego while the other did a camp in Costa Rica at our gym. That way, we’d be fully separated, and when we saw each other in the finals, we wouldn’t know what the other had for the other. It’d be wild. We’ve always trained together, so I think that’s how it should go for our super fight. We can bring in separate partners and make it more of a big deal. But still, at the competition, we’ll always be at each other’s side backing the other up. We’ll coach each other through the competition as long as we’re not fighting personally, and that’s how it’s always been. Then if we see each other in the finals we’ll try to kill each other and after everything will be all good.
As the sport continues to grow, why is it important for grapplers to have other avenues of competition?
Ruotolo: You see this with boxing. In boxing, there are a whole bunch of different titles you can win, and I think that adds to the legacy. ADCC is such a legendary tournament that when you win it you become a legend. But you can also win World’s at IBJJF at the same time, and to me that’s so legendary because it’s so hard to win both at the highest levels. So I think it’s important to have different avenues because it helps you build a career. For how small jiu-jitsu is, it’s also big and different too. You can become a no-gI specialist, you can be a gi specialist or take your jiu-jitsu and translate it to mixed martial arts. There’s so much it can do for your life, and in general, it’s good for everyone to have different opportunities with it.
You and your brother opened your own gym this summer in Costa Rica. What was that process like and how satisfying was it to finally open your doors?
Ruotolo: Every time I walk through the doors, I still have a hard time fathoming that it’s actually here. I can’t believe we did it. Most of our training is in San Diego but growing up, we’ve always wanted to have our own gym. In a place like Costa Rica where we love so much; where we surf, train and spearfish. There’s plenty of life there and chances to do what we love. The fact that we were able to build our dream spot in our dream spot it’s hard to fathom. We’re definitely going to be having some training camps out of there and also some jiu-jitsu camps where we bring guys in and have a great week of good vibes, good training and good surfing.
Kade shined in his MMA debut back on June 7. What was it like for you to see him in a different sport, and can we expect you to make the transition as well?
Ruotolo: Watching Kade, I was so proud of him, and it definitely lit a fire under my ass to get it done too. MMA is such a different world, and we had an idea of that going in, but there are so many moving parts that it’s almost impossible to master everything. But we want to be the best at MMA: anything we do we want to be the best at. So I’ll be training hard and staying low-key. I’m going to have my debut toward the end of the year and I’m going to be ready for it.