Kade Ruotolo says twin brother Tye is “starting to turn a corner” following his knee injury in August

ONE lightweight submission grappling king Kade Ruotolo said his twin brother and fellow ONE world champion Tye is recovering well from the knee injury he sustained back in August in a competition outside of ONE Championship.

He shared this in an interview on The Ariel Helwani Show, which was uploaded last month on YouTube, that Tye, the welterweight submission grappling world champion, had a procedure done on his injured knee and responding favorably to it.

Kade Ruotolo said:

"He's good. Every day he is feeling better, he just got some stem cells in his knee so I think he's starting to turn a corner there. It was definitely a pretty rough injury you know, he tore like the majority of ligaments in his knee."

Watch the interview below:

Both Kade and Tye Ruotolo competed in the -80kg division of the CJI tournament in Las Vegas in August. But while the former went on to win the $1-million top prize and the title, the latter hurt his knee in the earlier stages, making it tough for him to compete at a high level and saw him eliminated in the quarterfinals.

The last time Tye competed in ONE Championship was in July, beating South African phenom Jozef Chen by submission in their catchweight submission grappling showdown.

Kade Ruotolo continues to impress in MMA

While Tye continues to recover from his injury, Kade Ruotolo impressed once again in his second MMA match at ONE 169: Malykhin vs. Reug Reug on Nov. 8 at the Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

The 21-year-old Atos standout had another quick victory at the stacked event, winning by submission in the opening round over veteran Pakistani fighter Ahmed Mujtaba. It was in follow-up to his first-round submission win over fellow American fighter Blake Cooper in his MMA debut in June.

Kade Ruotolo, the reigning ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion, displayed his improving stand-up game in the early goings of the contest against Mujtaba, landing a crisp overhand right that sent 'Wolverine' crashing down the canvas.

He immediately worked on a ground and pound after and set himself for a D'Arce choke when his opponent exposed himself and went for the finish.

The winning performance of Ruotolo was one of three given a $50,000 performance bonus by ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Siyodtong at ONE 169.

While he has established a solid career in jiu-jitsu. Kade Ruotolo long sought to compete as well in MMA to expand his horizon as a fighter. He is looking forward to having more MMA matches along with submission grappling next year.

The full replay of oNE 169 is available on demand for Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.