“My favorite fighter” - Tye and Kade Ruotolo show their love to Ayaka Miura following clinical submission win at ONE 169

Japanese judoka Ayaka Miura was one of the big winners at ONE 169: Malykhin vs. Reug Reug on Nov. 8 in Thailand and among those that was excited and happy for her were ONE submission grappling world champions and twin brothers Tye and Kade Ruotolo.

'Zombie' raced to her third straight victory at the stacked event that took place at Bangkok's Lumpinee Stadium, making short work of Argentina's Macarena Aragon with a submission (scraf-hold Americana, or fondly referred to as the "Ayaka Lock") victory in the opening round of their featured atomweight MMA showdown.

Among those who congratulated her in the waiting area were the Ruotolos, who greeted her with words of admiration for the impressive victory.

ONE lightweight submission grappling king Kade said:

"My favorite fighter! Amazing"

Tye, the welterweight world champion followed up, saying:

"I love you."

ONE Championship shared a video of the interaction among the top-notch fighters on its official Instagram account.

Check out the video below:

The win over Aragon further solidified Ayaka Miura's standing as a strong contender for the world title currently held by Thai superstar Stamp Fairtex. It also thrust her inside the top five rankings in the atomweight division as of Nov. 13.

Incidentally, Kade Ruotolo also saw action at ONE 169 and was a submission (D'Arce choke) winner in the first round as well over Pakistani Ahmed Mujtaba in their lightweight MMA clash.

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

Ayaka Miura, Kade Ruotolo among the $50,000 performance bonus winners at ONE 169

For their impressive first-round submission victories as ONE 169 on Nov. 8, Ayaka Miura and Kade Ruotolo were rewarded with $50,000 performance bonuses by ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong.

Miura was a first-time recipient of the hefty incentive, leaving her extremely happy and excited. She said she was going to share the reward with her team, including her boyfriend, who helped her prepare for her latest match.

Ruotolo, meanwhile, is no longer a stranger to performance bonuses, with the latest his sixth in eight matches in ONE, and fourth straight, since making his promotional debut in May 2022. Nonetheless, he remained grateful to have his performances recognized in such a manner.

The other $50,000 performance bonus winner at ONE 169 was BJJ legend Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida, who defeated erstwhile streaking Amir Aliakbari of Iran by submission (rear-naked choke) in the first round of their heavyweight MMA joust.