ONE Championship: Tye Ruotolo open to welterweight MMA title bid, plays down UFC talk

Tye Ruotolo is open to pursuing a second ONE Championship MMA title at welterweight and has played down talk of a move to the UFC, after taking the lightweight belt from Christian Lee in Bangkok. 

Already ONE’s welterweight submission grappling world champion, the 23-year-old submitted Lee in the first round of The Inner Circle 37 main event at Lumpinee Stadium last week. 

The win took him to 3-0 in MMA and made him the first fighter to hold ONE titles in both sports.

“That would be radical,” Ruotolo told the Bangkok Post when asked about the 185lb belt. “I’d have to put on a little muscle first and then guaranteed I’ll give it a shot. Why not?”

“I got it done at 170. I don’t see why we can’t do it at 185.”

Christian Lee celebrates with both belts after stopping Kiamrian Abbasov to win the ONE welterweight MMA title in November 2022

For now, the American considers 170lb his healthy weight. A move up would put him in a division where Lee is still champion.

Lee himself moved up as lightweight champion to win the welterweight belt in November 2022, stopping Kiamrian Abbasov in the fourth round. Nearly four years on, he has yet to defend it.

Ruotolo also earned a US$100,000 double performance bonus for the win over Lee.

“I love where I’m at, making the most money I’ve ever made in my life,” he said when asked about the UFC. “I’m fighting amazing competition, making all my goals come true.”

Ruotolo told The Ariel Helwani Show this week that he signed a new ONE deal for the title opportunity against Lee. He said he has around six bouts left on the contract, which covers MMA and submission grappling.

He acknowledged claims that ONE’s MMA divisions had thinned in recent years but said the promotion still offered the level of competition he wanted at this stage of his career.

Tye Ruotolo (right) lands a right hand on Christian Lee during their lightweight MMA title fight at The Inner Circle 37

“I’m locked in with ONE for right now, for sure,” he said.

Ruotolo made his MMA debut against Christian’s younger brother Adrian at ONE Fight Night 35 last year, winning by second-round submission. He recalled countering Adrian’s early charge with a check hook before taking him down.

In Ruotolo’s view, Adrian’s defeat shaped Christian’s approach at Lumpinee. He thought Lee wanted to slow him down with leg kicks and catch him from the outside.

“When have you ever seen Christian not just come in hot?” Ruotolo told the Bangkok Post. “I think based off the match with Adrian he didn’t want me to grab him.”

Ruotolo said he had planned to land a shot on the feet and then take Lee down. He clipped Lee with a right hook, dropped him with a left and followed him to the canvas, finishing with a rear-naked choke at 2:08 of the first round.

Tye Ruotolo submits Christian Lee with a rear-naked choke at 2_08 of the opening round

The new champion wants to stay active and is leaving the choice of his next bout to ONE. He last defended his grappling title against Pawel Jaworski at ONE Fight Night 41 in March.

“Ready for an MMA fight, keep it going. Haven’t defended my grappling belt in a while. Just give me the call and let me know,” he said.

At lightweight, Magomed Magomedov has called for a title shot after beating Lucas Gabriel by split decision at ONE Fight Night 49. Magomedov missed weight for that bout.

Ruotolo has a third sport in mind, too.

Tye Ruotolo (right) has his hand raised after beating Christian Lee (left) to move to 3-0 in MMA

“Maybe right now it’s really hard to do everything, but one day I’m going to do a Muay Thai fight,” he told ONE’s website.

At Lumpinee, he brought up Regian Eersel, ONE’s lightweight Muay Thai and kickboxing champion, when asked about a possible debut.

“If I’m doing Muay Thai, I’m definitely not scrapping Regian Eersel first, I’ll tell you that much,” he told the Bangkok Post with a laugh.