Both Tye Ruotolo and Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida have signed impressive contracts with ONE Championship and the pair have now spent some time training together as well. They’re both impressive competitors in their respective weightclasses, although the size and experience difference between them is more than enough to tilt the balance of power in favour of Buchecha when they do train together. Regardless, Ruotolo is still a once-in-a-lifetime kind of talent and he’s definitely capable of giving Buchecha a run for his money in the training room.
Tye Ruotolo was only just promoted to black belt late in 2021 along with his brother Kade, whereas Buchecha has been competing at the highest levels of the sport since 2010 and has even cemented himself as a legend within professional grappling competition. Throughout over a decade of competition, Buchecha has managed to win two ADCC world championships and an astonishing thirteen IBJJF world titles in the gi and four in no gi to become the most successful world champion in IBJJF history.
He hasn’t been competing in Jiu-Jitsu as much lately however as he actually decided to make a transition to MMA in 2021. Since then Buchecha has been racking up the wins and moving further up the rankings at ONE Championship, registering a perfect 3-0 professional record so far and putting himself within touching distance of a title shot in the promotion. Ruotolo on the other hand is still very early in his career but has already managed to put in some impressive performances to put himself on the map, like his recent victory over Garry Tonon at ONE 157. He will also be competing in the 88kg division of the upcoming 2022 ADCC world championships where he will have to face a number of high level competitors in order to reach the podium.
The footage of Tye Ruotolo rolling with Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of ONE Championship:
