ONE Championship: Reinier de Ridder to face Tye Ruotolo in submission grappling super fight
- ONE’s slew of major fight announcements continues, with middleweight MMA champ to take on 20-year-old BJJ phenom
- De Ridder will grapple Ruotolo at ONE Fight Night 10 – the promotion’s on-ground US debut in Denver, Colorado on May 5
ONE Championship’s slew of major fight announcements continued on Monday night.
After CEO Chatri Sityodtong revealed three Muay Thai and kickboxing title bout, the promotion also made a submission grappling super fight official.
Middleweight MMA champion Reinier de Ridder will face Tye Ruotolo at Fight Night 10 – ONE’s on-ground US debut in Denver, Colorado, on May 5.
The 20-year-old Ruotolo, the twin brother of ONE lightweight submission grappling champion Kade Ruotolo, called for the bout after his most recent victory in the Circle, at ONE on Prime Video 5 in Manila.
“Reinier de Ridder says he can sub anyone in the world. I would definitely like to test that. He’s a bit taller, but I think I can definitely sub him,” Tye Ruotolo said after he had picked up a US$50,000 bonus with an armbar submission of the former ONE featherweight MMA champion Marat Gafurov in the Philippines.
Tye’s call-out came early on the card, with De Ridder quickly responding from his warm-up room backstage at the Mall of Asia Arena – where he was set to defend his light heavyweight MMA title in the main event against Anatoly Malykhin.
“Let’s go Tye,” De Ridder said. “Let me get through this Russian guy first and then I’ll choke you out.”
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“The Dutch Knight” (16-1) ultimately wound up getting brutally knocked out by Malykhin in the first round, with the date of his return to competition unclear until now.
“He [De Ridder] had a pretty rough one tonight, that KO finish was nasty,” Kade Ruotolo told the Post in Manila. “When he is recovered and ready for it, I think a jiu-jitsu match is probably not as intimidating as someone like Anatoly.”
“I love fighting big guys and beating bigger people,” Tye added, alongside his brother. “That’s the true essence of jiu jitsu – with pure technique, you should be able to beat anyone, no matter their size. Anyone in the world, the bigger the better.”
De Ridder had poked fun at the Ruotolos in an Instagram post last month, seemingly in an attempt to goad one of them into a match.
“Here’s a picture of me and my sons,” he wrote, alongside a shot of them after the ONE on Prime Video 5 press conference at the Solaire Resort and Casino in Manila.
“Do you think one of them can beat their dad in a grappling match already?”
A former BJJ European champion, De Ridder is no stranger to submission grappling in ONE, having already battled the legendary Andre Galvao to a draw in Singapore last March.
Ten-time BJJ world champion Galvao just so happens to be the mentor to both Tye and Kade Ruotolo, having coached them since they were children at his Atos Jiu Jitsu gym in San Diego.
“Good luck,” he wrote in the comments under De Ridder’s social media post calling the Ruotolos out.
