'Buchecha' credits Ruotolo brothers’ early foundation for current success

Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida has always believed that the Ruotolo twins, Tye and Kade, were destined for success in the ultra-competitive world of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

As it turns out, Almeida’s observations turned into absolute reality.

Kade is the youngest ADCC world champion in the competition’s history and is also the reigning ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion.

Tye, meanwhile, is the youngest IBJJF world champion and is carving a path as a terrifying grappler across multiple weight classes in ONE Championship.

‘Buchecha’, in an interview with ONE Championship, said the Ruotolo twins were always going to be ahead of their competition no matter which organization they fought in.

The 17-time BJJ world champion added that it’s the brothers’ consistent training with and against each other that pushed them to the top of the sport.

Almeida said:

"For sure, they were ahead of their time. They were like killing all the people, the other kids, because they were so fast, they were thinking so fast in transitions and everything. So I think that was the key for them, but they kept doing this until the black belts.”

Both brothers have held perfect 3-0 records since making their ONE Championship debut in 2022. Tye recently took a unanimous decision win over ONE middleweight world champion Reinier de Ridder in their middleweight submission grappling match at ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs. Moraes III on Prime Video.

Kade, meanwhile, is coming off a unanimous decision victory against Matheus Gabriel in his first defense of the ONE lightweight submission grappling world title. He’s set for another world title defense when he takes on Tommy Langaker at ONE Fight Night 11: Eersel vs. Menshikov on Prime Video.

ONE Fight Night 10 replays are available for free on Prime Video in North America while ONE Fight Night 11 will be streamed on the same platform live on June 9 from the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok.