“I want to lock horns” – Tye Ruotolo undeterred by Magomed Abdulkadirov’s feared Dagestani style wrestling

BJJ superstar Tye Ruotolo will not be intimidated by the highly-touted Dagestani-style wrestling that his ONE Fight Night 16 opponent, Magomed Abdulkadirov, possesses.

In a few short hours, Ruotolo will return to Thailand’s iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium with the opportunity to make ONE Championship history. Under the co-main event spotlight, the IBJJF world champion will look to add ONE gold to his resume as he competes for the inaugural ONE welterweight submission grappling world championship.

Standing in his way of leaving The Land of Smiles with 26 pounds of gold over his shoulder will be Magomed Abdulkadirov, a Russian debutant armed with a BJJ black belt and some of the most feared Dagestani wrestling in the world.

But don’t for one second believe Tye Ruotolo will be intimidated.

“No matter what, you know, head-to-head. We're gonna lock horns,” Ruotolo told ONE Championship ahead of fight night. “I never change my game plan. That's always it. I'm just gonna come at you. I know I believe a fight’s half mental and when you pull guard, I feel like, I don't know.

“To me, when someone pulls guard on me, I smile, you know, like ‘Alright, cool, this is this is where I want to be.’ So I know I want to do the opposite. When we go fight, I want to lock horns, and it's going to be a war.”

Ruotolo has bested some big names in ONE, including Garry Tonon, Reinier de Ridder, and Dagi Arslanaliev. Can the 20-year-old BJJ prodigy add another big win to his resume and join his brother, Kade Ruotolo at the top of the submission grappling mountain?

We’ll find out this Friday night.

Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North America can catch all the action at ONE Fight Night 16: Haggerty vs. Andrade on Prime Video live in U.S. primetime on November 3.