Tye Ruotolo is the new ONE lightweight MMA world champion, and he got there in his third professional fight. At ONE: The Inner Circle 37 at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok on Friday morning, Ruotolo dropped Christian Lee with a combination on the feet, followed with ground and pound, took the back and sank a rear-naked choke for the tap a little over three minutes into Round 1.
The belt sits at 170 pounds under ONE’s weight rules, and it was a belt held by a two-division champion in Lee. MMA Fighting reported the result, and ONE Championship confirmed the Round 1 submission on its official X account shortly after the finish.
The Record
Ruotolo is now 3-0, and every one of those wins has come the same way: first-round rear-naked choke, all inside ONE. He already holds the promotion’s grappling belt, so he walks out of Bangkok with gold in two disciplines. He also picked up a $100,000 performance bonus for the night’s work.
Before the fight, Ruotolo told MMA Fighting he was very likely to win by submission. He also said he had “a lot of cool tools that I’m looking to whip out in the fight as well.” That line reads a lot better today than it might have on Thursday, because the finish started with his hands.
The sources don’t say what comes next for either man. No first title defense has been announced for Ruotolo, and there’s no word yet on Lee’s plans after losing the lightweight strap.
Quick Take
Everyone expected Ruotolo to win this on the mat if he won it at all, so the knockdown is the detail I keep rewinding. Look at the order of operations. He lands on the feet, Lee goes down, and now Lee is defending punches instead of defending position. A man worried about ground and pound gives up his back eventually, and Ruotolo was there to take it the moment he did. Elite grapplers often struggle in MMA because they treat striking as the thing to survive until the takedown. Ruotolo used his hands as the entry to his grappling, which is exactly how a submission specialist ought to use them. Three fights, three first-round chokes, and now one of them came off a knockdown. Whoever ONE lines up next has to respect his hands, and that opens up everything Ruotolo really wants to do.
