The grappling mats have been conquered. The submission grappling world lies at his feet. But now, Tye Ruotolo is about to discover that in mixed martial arts, crowns mean nothing when fists start flying.
The ONE welterweight submission grappling world champion is finally ready to follow his twin brother’s blueprint and dive headfirst into MMA. On Friday, September 5, at ONE Fight Night 35, Ruotolo will shed his grappling-only skin against undefeated Singaporean-American Adrian “The Phenom” Lee.
Inside Bangkok’s legendary Lumpinee Stadium, under the bright lights of U.S. primetime television, two vastly different paths will collide in what promises to be a defining moment for both fighters’ careers.
For Ruotolo, the transition represents the ultimate test. Since joining ONE Championship in 2022, the California-based submission artist has been nothing short of unstoppable on the mats. Eight fights, eight victories, and a trail of elite grapplers left tapping out in his wake.
His resume reads like a who’s who of submission grappling royalty: multi-time EBI Champion Garry “The Lion Killer” Tonon, former two-division ONE World Champion Reinier de Ridder, and a collection of world-class grapplers who learned that Ruotolo’s ground game is pure poetry written in joint locks and chokes.
The 22-year-old prodigy has bounced between weight classes like a man possessed, hunting for challenges that could test his ever-evolving skill set. Along the way, he captured the inaugural ONE Welterweight Submission Grappling World Title and defended it twice, establishing himself as arguably the most dominant pound-for-pound grappler in the sport.
But MMA is a different beast entirely. Where submission grappling rewards technical perfection and strategic patience, mixed martial arts demands adaptation under fire. Strikes change everything – the timing, the positioning, the very DNA of combat itself.
Standing in his path is a teenager who has already mastered the art of making veterans look amateur.
Lee may be just 19 years old, but “The Phenom” has turned the MMA cage into his personal playground. Since his promotional debut, he’s been a finishing machine, collecting three straight submission victories and three consecutive $50,000 performance bonuses.
His victims tell the story of a young man who possesses finishing instincts: Antonio Mammarella submitted via rear-naked choke, Nico Cornejo tapped out in similar fashion, and Takeharu Ogawa was forced to surrender to an anaconda choke in just 63 seconds.
The psychological warfare began months ago when Lee declared that he doesn’t think he’s “a good matchup” for Ruotolo. It’s the kind of statement that either reveals supreme confidence or dangerous naivety – and on September 5, the world will discover which one it is.
This isn’t just about one fighter making his MMA debut. It’s about the question that haunts combat sports: Can pure grappling excellence translate to the chaos of mixed martial arts? Ruotolo has followed his twin brother Kade’s path from submission grappling dominance to MMA curiosity, but every fighter’s journey is unique, and the sport has a way of exposing truths that the mats cannot reveal.
For Lee, this represents the ultimate step-up in competition. He’s been steamrolling through opponents with ease. But facing a world champion in any discipline – even one making his MMA debut – is a different conversation entirely.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. Ruotolo risks tarnishing his perfect record and potentially derailing his MMA aspirations before they truly begin. Lee faces his first true test against elite-level competition, with the opportunity to announce himself as a legitimate contender in the division.
