Tye Ruotolo will be challenging Magomed Abdulkadirov for the inaugural welterweight submission grappling title at ONE Fight Night 16 on November 3rd, 2023. Both Tye and his brother Kade Ruotolo have been competing for ONE Championship for quite some time now, and both brothers have manage to remain undefeated under their ruleset. Both of the Ruotolo brothers have managed to step into the cage four times so far as well, but Tye Ruotolo has managed to become the prolific finisher. Kade has submitted one of his four opponents, whereas Tye Ruotolo has finished all of his matches except for a decision win over MMA world champion Reinier de Ridder.
Kade Ruotolo became the promotion’s inaugural lightweight world champion earlier on in the year, whereas Tye has been competing against opponents in higher weight classes instead. It’s not as if this title-fight will have come as much of a surprise though, as Tye Ruotolo has been open about his desire to become a ONE submission grappling champion ever since his brother won a title. It won’t be easy for him though, as Magomed Abdulkadirov is a very tough opponent who actually has a wealth of professional grappling experience to draw upon.
Not only has Abdulkadirov competed against elite MMA fighters like Benson Henderson in the past, but he was also part of the Universal Fighters team that won the first AIGA Champions League last year. He’s got some fantastic wrestling and will no doubt present plenty of challenges to Ruotolo on the feet, but he’s also a difficult competitor to submit as well. This is exactly what Tye Ruotolo has been working towards over the past year though, so he’ll definitely be leaving it all in the cage in order to win the welterweight title at ONE Fight Night 16.
ONE Championship announced the news that Tye Ruotolo would be facing Magomed Abdulkadirov for the welterweight submission grappling title at ONE Fight Night 16 in a recent post to their official Instagram account: