Mikey Musumeci predicts the winner of Tye Ruotolo vs. Reinier de Ridder

Mikey Musumeci will closely watch the all-grappling war between Tye Ruotolo and Reinier de Ridder before defending his ONE flyweight submission grappling world title at ONE Fight Night 10.

The high-stakes middleweight bout, after all, should warm up the sold-out crowd at the 1stBank Center in Colorado this May 5, before his own grappling showdown against Osamah Almarwai.

Given his expertise in the grappling arts, ‘Darth Rigatoni’ offered his two cents on the matter, and took into account Reinier de Ridder’s mixed martial arts experience.

He told South China Morning Post in an exclusive interview:

“I think that there’ll be some wrestling in this match, and I think RDR might be really strong with wrestling because he’s an MMA fighter right? So they’re good with like wall wrestling and different things like that.”

While Tye Ruotolo is undoubtedly the bigger name in Jiu-Jitsu circles, it would be foolish to write off ‘The Dutch Knight’.

Aside from having a size advantage, the ONE middleweight world champion is one of the best grapplers in MMA today, with 11 of his 16 career wins coming by submission.

Still, Musumeci offered a specific prediction on how this match would unfold. After careful consideration, he thinks Ruotolo will catch ‘RDR’ with his signature D’Arce choke and come out as the victor:

“But I see some weird scramble happening where Tye almost takes him down and he posts his hands and he just locks his hands in the D’Arce. That’s my prediction.”

Watch Musumeci’s full interview below:

Apart from a pair of submission grappling bouts, ONE Fight Night 10 will feature exhilarating MMA, Muay Thai, and kickboxing contests.

All the action will be available live and for free for Prime Video subscribers in North America.