Both of the Ruotolo brothers, Kade and Tye, have now been promoted to brown belt courtesy of ATOS head coach, Andre Galvao. The promotion comes for the pair of teenagers after fourteen long years of training, as they announced their final year of competing as juveniles on their official Instagram account. Very soon, both Kade and Tye Ruotolo will be able to compete against adults in IBJJF competition, although it’s unlikely this will be much of a shock for either of them. Despite previously being teenage purple belts, both have already competed against some of the best names in the sport already.
Tye Ruotolo has already competed at ADCC and even had a good showing against one of the greatest competitors to ever enter the 66kg weightclass in Paulo Miyao. Kade did make an attempt to join his brother at ADCC 2019, although came up short against Nicky Ryan at the North American trials event. Both of the Ruotolo brothers also competed at Third Coast Grappling Kumite 5 prior to getting promoted to brown belt, where Tye beat out some fantastic competitors on the way to a controversial final with Roberto Jimenez. Tye will also feature in the upcoming Lightweight edition of the Combat Jiu-Jitsu World Championships, where he will face some of the best no gi grapplers on the planet.