The Ruotolo brothers, Tye and Kade, met each other in the final match of the brown belt Lightweight division at the IBJJF world championship and they put on an epic match with both young men going all out for the finish. It was the first time that either of them had competed in the gi since they were promoted to brown belt a little over a year ago as they both spend the majority of their time on the no gi professional circuit. Of course, one of them coming away with the gold medal here was almost a foregone conclusion as they’ve both defeated a whole host of black belts in the past, including a recent double title-winning performance at the WNO Championships.
They aren’t just competing in specific tournaments or superfights either of course as Tye Ruotolo came within inches of a bronze medal at ADCC 2019 when he lost a close match to the legendary Paulo Miyao, and Kade has already booked his place at ADCC 2022 by dominating at the North American East Coast trials. Historically, the Ruotolo brothers have chosen to compete in different divisions or at different events and have not had to cross paths on the competition mats at any kind of world championship , ADCC or IBJJF, as a result. This time around was a little different however as the pair were competing at the highest level of IBJJF competition of their careers to date, so both chose to attend and compete in their natural weightclass.
This naturally led to questions around what would happen if both of them met in the final, as closeouts happen often between siblings or teammates and many in the BJJ community aren’t fans of the practice. Things looked good leading up to the event though, because Kade Ruotolo confirmed that he and Tye had every intention of competing against one another to the fullest of their abilities regardless of what other competitors may choose to do.
The full results for all divisions for the IBJJF world championships 2021 are available on their official website, click here to see more.
