Tye Ruotolo will now compete in a submission grappling superfight against MMA veteran Reinier de Ridder at ONE Fight Night 10 on May 5th, 2023. It’s going to be a tough match for Ruotolo despite the fact that his opponent is primarily an MMA fighter, as de Ridder is a fantastic grappler in his own right and has already shown that he’s able to compete with some of the best in the sport. Back at ONE X, de Ridder took Ruotolo’s coach at ATOS HQ, Andre Galvao, to a draw in a match that many thought that he had won.
De Ridder holds an impressive 16-1 professional MMA record that has seen him capture both the ONE Championship middleweight and light-heavyweight titles, the former being his first and the one that he currently holds. He’s used his high-level submission grappling skills to great effect in the cage, submitting eleven of the men he’s fought throughout his career and there’s no reason to think that de Ridder couldn’t compete in professional grappling at a high level if he dedicated his time solely to that instead of MMA.
While Reinier de Ridder is a fantastic grappler, Tye Ruotolo is no stranger to competing against MMA veterans who’ve held a ONE Championship title. Back at ONE on Prime Video 5, Ruotolo submitted former featherweight champion Marat Gafurov with a triangle armbar after just five minutes of action. De Ridder is significantly heavier than Gafurov, has much more grappling experience, and is still in the prime of his career though. This represents a significant increase in competition for Ruotolo and may just be the final step towards him getting his wish to compete for a ONE Championship submission grappling title like his brother Kade.
The news that Tye Ruotolo was going to compete in a submission grappling superfight against Reinier de Ridder At ONE Fight Night 10 was announced in a post to the official Instagram account of ONE Championship:
