Both Tye Ruotolo and JT Torres have entered the middleweight division at the IBJJF World Championship 2023, ready to challenge the reigning champion Tainan Dalpra for the title. Ruotolo isn’t alone in representing ATOS in the division either, as Andy Murasaki will also be competing at the event and he’ll no doubt be eager to dethrone Dalpra as well. The division is actually incredibly difficult wherever you look with AJ Agazarm, Tarik Hopstock, Alexandre De Jesus, Bradley Hill, and Pedro Maia all competing at that weight as well.
Assuming all goes well in these competitor’s preparations for the event, this may well be the most stacked middleweight division in IBJJF world championship history. It’s certainly the toughest it’s looked since Dalpra was promoted to black belt back at the end of 2020. Dalpra has really had the midas touch on the IBJJF mats so far, as he’s won every single tournament he’s entered since being promoted to black belt and hasn’t lost a single match. The only loss of his black belt career came against Mica Galvao at an Evolve Ur Game event, although the two haven’t crossed paths since.
This division represents the toughest test of his career so far, and all the pressure will be on Dalpra as the 2022 world champion returning to defend his title. Tye Ruotolo and JT Torres are two brand new challenges for him, as Tainan Dalpra has never had to face either of these elite competitors before. If he can emerge from this edition of the IBJJF world champion unscathed and win gold at middleweight for the third year in a row, he’ll solidify his status as one of the greatest grapplers to ever compete at that weightclass.
The IBJJF announced that Tye Ruotolo and JT Torres had entered the men’s middleweight division at the IBJJF World Championship 2023 to challenge reigning champion Tainan Dalpra in a recent post to the promotion’s official Instagram account:
