"They’ll probably make it up to the top of the division" - Christian Lee has high hopes for the Ruotolo twins in MMA

Christian Lee believes that grappling phenoms Kade and Tye Ruotolo have what it takes to make a successful transition into mixed martial arts, as long as they give their full commitment to the sport.

The former ONE lightweight world champion said in an interview with ONE Championship that the twins already have a massive foundation in submission grappling that they can use to help them seamlessly move into MMA.

What the twins have to do next, Lee said, is to impart a developed striking game into their repertoire.

“Definitely, they’re world-class grapplers. They’re very good. But it’s a very big transition going from grappling to MMA. I think right now they’re doing a great job in grappling, and if they did want to make that transition over to MMA, they need to commit a whole lot of time to just changing their game completely to add in the striking, to add in the MMA component.”

He added:

“I think if they made the decision and they started fighting [in MMA], they will do really well. They’ll probably make it up to the top of the division.”

Tye and Kade are two of the best young grapplers in the realm of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and the twins made their successful ONE Championship debuts in May 2022.

Kade scored a unanimous decision win over former ONE lightweight world champion Shinya Aoki, while Tye submitted former featherweight title challenger Garry Tonon with a D’Arce choke early into their match.

---

Christian Lee’s legacy in ONE Championship

Christian Lee, who was born into a family of fighters, has fought his whole career in ONE Championship and is one of the most dominant lightweights in the organization.

The 24-year-old’s 861-day reign with the ONE lightweight world title is the second-longest in the division’s history behind Shinya Aoki’s combined 1,363-day rule.

Apart from his world title reign, Christian Lee is also the ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix Champion, capturing the silver belt in October 2019 when he beat Dagi Arslanaliev at ONE: Century Part I in Tokyo, Japan.

Although Lee’s already built an impressive legacy for himself, his accolades are just a part of the greater mythos he and his siblings have. His older sister Angela is the first and only ONE women’s atomweight world champion, having started her reign in May 2016.

Their younger sister Victoria started her professional career at 17 years old before graduating high school, and has since gone 3-0 in ONE Championship.