ONE Championship will see the addition of two more exciting grapplers on Friday, May 20, when Kade and Tye Ruotolo debut inside the Circle at ONE 157: Petchmorakot vs. Vienot.
Ruotolo Brothers Talk Prior to ONE 157
The promotion’s expansion of its submission grappling ranks has been an exciting prospect across the sport, and the Ruotolos are two of the brightest shining stars.
The 19-year-old twins have lit up the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world with their exciting style, and now they will get the chance to show it off against notable stars Shinya Aoki and Garry Tonon on their first walk to the Circle.
And that’s the style they believe the sport needs to reach the next level.
“It’s so important because the pace of jiu-jitsu is different than other combat sports, right? Like, it’s hard to have a boring boxing match sometimes because it’s such a fast-paced sport,” said Kade.
“It’s like trying to get a jock to watch a chess match, you know what I mean? Like, he doesn’t know what’s going on. So jiu-jitsu, it’s really up to the athletes to make it exciting,” remarked Tye.
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“It’s so important to get the submission, and I don’t get the subs in all of my matches, but I try my hardest to. If I don’t get the sub, at least I’m trying to add a bunch of sub attempts and all these different attacks because there are some guys that would rather win and stall. And then, at the end of the day, no one wins. Not the fans, not the guy, nobody.”
Their style has partially been imprinted on them by their mentor, Andre Galvao.
The Atos Jiu-Jitsu stars look up to the Brazilian and thank him for being a teacher and friend.
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“Everything I’m trying to accomplish, he’s done. And not only that, just seeing the way that he runs his gym, and he’s there for every single one of the students,” said Tye.
“There’s one time we stayed after a competition, and it was so late, and our adrenaline was still rushing through after the fight. We were all just kind of up in the hotel lobby at 6 a.m. talking, talking about life stories, God, and so many different things. He’s helped us so much and not just technically or physically, but he’s given us so much mental advice and how to deal with the mental stress of competing,” recalled Kade.
All of that advice will come into play when they make their walk on Friday.
The Ruotolo’s will compete on the ONE 157 main card in front of the largest viewing audience they have ever had thus far in their young careers.
Their chance to add two more iconic names to their resume is near, and the chance to elevate the sport of submission grappling is now. The pressure is mounting, but the Ruotolos have embraced every bit of it as they look to show the world what the next generation of grapplers can do on a massive platform.
ONE 157 airs live and free gets underway on watch.onefc.com and the ONE Super App at 5 a.m. ET/2 a.m. PT. The main card will begin at 8:30 a.m. ET/5:30 PT.
