Who’s Number One delivered yet another fantastic event, this time headlined by a long-awaited match between Craig Jones and Tye Ruotolo. The match was originally scheduled to take place back in April but was unfortunately delayed after Jones suffered an adverse reaction to his first shot of the Coronavirus vaccine. In the end, he proved too much for the young prodigy and Jones was able to use his superior standing grappling and a crushing body-lock passing game to outwork Ruotolo to a unanimous decision victory.
It’s worth noting that Ruotolo did have plenty of good moments, including several leg attacks and the threat of a triangle choke that put Jones in a little danger towards the end of the match. Given that many other more experienced grapplers have been defeated by Jones in a matter of seconds at previous WNO events, the performance was a pretty solid indictment of Ruotolo’s skills. His brother Kade also put on an equally impressive performance further down the card against Cole Franson when he locked up what is quickly becoming his signature move after this and the CJJ World Championships, the Buggy Choke, to secure the tap.
Ruotolo wasn’t the only person to be competing alongside a teammate as Jones’ DDS training partner Oliver Taza was also on the card against another young star, Mica Galvao. Unfortunately, Taza was unable to replicate Jones’ success and lost a decision against the recently-promoted Dream Art black belt. Elsewhere on the card, Mikey Musumeci showed that his leglock game has developed incredibly well in a comparatively short space of time as he took on one of the experts of the modern game, Edwin ‘Junny’ Ocasio, and managed to shut down everything he had to offer on route to a decision win.
The event’s top-billed female matchup provided something of a surprise as well as Erin Harpe managed to win a decision against 2020’s breakout star Rafaela Guedes, becoming only the second woman to defeat her since she was awarded her black belt. Haisam Rida was also busy proving that he’s ready to compete against the best the competitive BJJ scene has to offer as he continued his win-streak against the team at Legion Jiu-Jitsu, submitting the team’s first black belt Miha Perhavec after he stepped in to replace their founder and leader, Keenan Cornelius, on short notice.
Who’s Number One: Craig Jones v Tye Ruotolo Full Results
Craig Jones defeats Tye Ruotolo via Decision
Mikey Musumeci defeats Edwin “Junny” Ocasio via Decision
Erin Harpe defeats Rafaela Guedes via Decision
Kade Ruotolo defeats Cole Franson via Submission – Buggy Choke
Andrew Wiltse defeats Gabriel Almeida via Submission – Rear-naked Choke
Mica Galvao defeats Oliver Taza via Decision
Haisam Rida defeats Miha Perhavec via Submission – Armbar
Kody Steele defeats Phillip Rowe via Decision
Danielle Kelly defeats Jessica Crane via Submission – Kneebar
The full Who’s Number One: Craig Jones v Tye Ruotolo event will available for replay on FloGrappling, click here to subscribe and watch.
