Fellow grapplers looking forward to Tye Ruotolo’s IBJJF middleweight debut

ONE Championship athlete Tye Ruotolo has effectively left his twin brother Kade to rule the lower weight classes while he looks to face bigger opponents moving forward. The 20-year-old submission grappling phenom has been steadily bulking up while building strength, and soon, he will make his IBJJF middleweight debut.

In a recent post on Instagram, Ruotolo shared that he’s ready to compete in the higher weight class:

“I’ve competed 2x for Ibjjf in the last 4 years. My brown belt debut and my black belt debut in the lightweight division. Somehow I am the #2 seed 😂 I’m feeling great and ready for my middleweight debut 🔥”

Take a quick glance at the comments section of the post and fans will notice a litany of big names in the submission grappling space reacting to Ruotolo’s decision.

Nicholas Meregali said:

“That’s gonna be cool to watch 🔥”

Andre Galvao, the Ruotolo twins’ mentor and Atos founder, said:

“let’s go 🔥🔥🔥”

Rafael Lovato Jr. stated:

“Can’t wait to see it!!!”

Gustavo Batista said:

“Let’s goooo 🔥🔥”

Without a doubt, fans and athletes alike are waiting to see just how good Tye Ruotolo will look as a middleweight.

However, it should be noted that Ruotolo competed at middleweight not too long ago.

Tye Ruotolo met ONE middleweight world champion ‘The Dutch Knight’ Reinier de Ridder in a submission grappling match at ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs. Moraes III on Prime Video just last month.

The two battled to a decision, which went Ruotolo’s way after time expired.

Fans in the United States and Canada can catch all the action of that match and the rest of the ONE Fight Night 10 card free via replay on Amazon Prime.