Tye Ruotolo just joined his brother as a submission grappling champion at ONE Championship, as he beat Magomed Abdulkadirov by decision and won a $50,000 ‘Performance of the Night’ bonus at ONE Fight Night 16 on November 3rd, 2023. The match between Ruotolo and Abdulkadirov was set up as the co-main event and the promotion’s inaugural welterweight submission grappling title was on the line. There was a wide variety of other combat sports rulesets on display as well, with the card changing between MMA and Muay Thai before a Kickboxing champion was crowned.
The match between Tye Ruotolo and Magomed Abdulkadirov was fast-paced right from the start, with both men hunting for the takedown at ONE Fight Night 16. They were battling it out on the feet for the first minute before Ruotolo started to offer his leg up in order to bait his opponent, but Abdulkadirov wasn’t falling for it. It took another minute before Ruotolo was able to shoot in for the takedown, re-wrestling and chaining trip attempts together in quick succession. Abdulkadirov popped back up immediately though, managing to defend brilliantly and quickly disengage from the clinch.
Ruotolo eventually jumped to closed guard and started to set up a buggy choke, but Abdulkadirov prevented him from securing it. Ruotolo opened his guard to attack and Abdulkadirov seized the opportunity to try a double-under pass, but this allowed Ruotolo to start threatening him with a choi bar. He transitioned to the legs when Abdulkadirov pulled back and quickly made it to backside 50/50, but he couldn’t expose the heel before Abdulkadirov escaped. Ruotolo came up on top in the scramble and secured a bodylock, using it to pass to mount.
He was using a lot of heavy chest-pressure from mount to isolate an arm and eventually stepped off to knee-on belly to attack it, but was pushed back down to half-guard quickly. Abdulkadirov turned to turtle when Ruotolo started to pass, giving him the chance to start taking his back. Tye Ruotolo locked up an arm-in guillotine and sat back to finish it, earning the first catch of ONE Fight Night 16. He worked his way back on top and tried to switch to a D’arce choke when he realized he wouldn’t finish it, but changed directions soon after and hit a lovely berimbolo instead. Ruotolo couldn’t secure the back but settled into mount when Abdulkadirov tried to escape, immediately working to isolate an arm again.
Ruotolo stepped over the arm and into a triangle choke, rolling to his back to finish it. Abdulkadirov defended well, but Ruotolo started attacking the arm while he was still stuck inside the choke and earned another catch for his efforts. Abdulkadirov was able to escape and return to standing but there was only a few seconds left before the match ended. Ruotolo tried a last-ditch effort kani basami but he couldn’t hit it cleanly and the time ran out just as they fell to the ground. Tye Ruotolo was the only one with any catches in this match so he was declared the winner by decision and he took home the welterweight title at ONE Fight Night 16.
ONE Fight Night 16 Full Results
Kickboxing: Jonathan Haggerty defeats Fabricio Andrade via KO – Punches (Round 2, 1:57)
Haggerty wins the vacant ONE Championship bantamweight kickboxing title
Grappling: Tye Ruotolo defeats Magomed Abdulkadirov via Decision – Unanimous
Ruotolo wins the inaugural ONE Championship welterweight submission grappling title
Muay Thai: Seksan defeats Karim Bennoui via Decision – Unanimous
MMA: Halil Amir defeats Ahmed Mujtaba via TKO – Referee Stoppage (Round 1, 5:00)
Muay Thai: Sinsamut Klinmee defeats Mouhcine Chafi via Decision – Unanimous
Kickboxing: Rui Botelho defeats Zhang Peimian via Decision – Split
MMA: Ayaka Miura defeats Meng Bo via Submission – Americana (Round 1, 2:09)
MMA: Ben Tynan defeats Kang Ji Won via Submission – Arm-triangle Choke (Round 3, 1:22)
Kickboxing: Cristina Morales defeats Anna “Supergirl” Jaroonsak via TKO – Referee Stoppage (Round 1, 2:54)
MMA: Lito Adiwang defeats Jeremy Miado via Decision – Unanimous
The full ONE Fight Night 16 event replay, including Tye Ruotolo winning the welterweight submission grappling title and a $50,000 bonus, is available to watch on the promotion’s official YouTube channel:
