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ONE welterweight submission grappling world champion Tye Ruotolo is coming off a knee injury as he makes his return to action next month. It was an episode that he said was a tough one, but something he stayed positive through the course of.
The Atos standout hurt his knee in a competition outside of ONE Championship last August in the United States. It required a procedure after which kept him out for the rest of 2024 and well into the current year.
In an interview with ONE Championship, Tye Ruotolo spoke about what he had to go through amid injury and what kept him going on the road to recovery.
The 22-year-old California-based fighter said:
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“Right after it happened, I just took a mental picture of when my knee felt good, the way it felt when it was perfect. And so that way I’d be able to compare it to throughout the healing process, and I’m right back there to that point, so I’m happy.”
Tye Ruotolo will mark his return to active competition on May 2 at ONE Fight Night 31: Kongthoranee vs Nong-O II on Prime Video at the Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. There, he will defend the welterweight submission grappling world title against Canada's Dante Leon.
It will be his second defense of his world title after his submission victory over Australian challenger Izaak Michell in April last year. Out to dethrone him is Leon, a fighter he is familiar with, having faced him twice previously in competitions outside of ONE Championship.
ONE Fight Night 31 is available live at U.S. primetime to North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription.
Tye Ruotolo seeks to keep undefeated run in ONE Championship intact in next match
Apart from remaining as the ONE welterweight submission grappling world champion, Tye Ruotolo is also seeking to keep his unblemished record in ONE Championship intact with a win at ONE Fight Night 31.
Entering his upcoming match, Ruotolo is sporting a 7-0 record since making his promotional debut in May 2022.
The latest of Ruotolo's victories came back in July, where he took on and defeated South African phenom Jozef Chen in a catchweight (186 lbs) submission grappling joust.
Looking to clip his impressive winning run and dethrone him is Dante Leon, himself building a winning streak after scoring back-to-back victories since making his promotional debut last December.
