Young grappling twins Ruotolo brothers are getting ready for their May 20 submission grappling matches. Tye and Kade will face legends Gary Tonon and Shinya Aoki at ONE 157 on May 20.
Ahead of the event, ONE Championship shared a video of the brothers grappling with the caption:
"The Ruotolo brothers are ready to SCRAP. Tye and Kade Ruotolo take on grappling giants Garry Tonon and Shinya Aoki this Friday! #ONE157. 20 May."
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The Ruotolo brothers were born in 2003, the same year Shinya Aoki made his professional debut in MMA. Kade Ruotolo will face Aoki on May 20. Aoki is a veteran of MMA, having held championships in DREAM and ONE.
Garry Tonon will meet Tye Ruotolo. Tonon has held dozens of grappling world championships and has a record of 71-22.
As per the rules of submission grappling matches in ONE Championship, these grapplers will compete for a single 12-minute round. If at the end of that round no submission has happened, then a draw will officially be declared.
Ruotolo Brothers at ONE 157
Ruotolo brothers have won national grappling championships as teenagers and as adults. Kade and Tye earned first-place spots in Who's Number One (WNO), a grappling competition in 2021.
Kade, who faces Aoki, is best known for his D'arce choke as 75% of his grappling career victories have come by using this manouver.
Shinya Aoki and Gary Tonon are both coming off knockout losses in MMA. Tonon challenged for the ONE featherweight title against Thanh Le and was knocked out in round one.
Aoki competed at ONE X against Japanese MMA veteran 'Sexyama' Yoshihiro Akiyama. Aoki did well in round one, having nearly finished the fight, but received a battering of knees to end his night. Both Tonon and Aoki will be competing for relevancy at ONE 157.
Japanese Grappler Shinya Aoki holds black belts in both Judo and Jiu Jitsu and shows no signs of stopping martial arts. In a 2019 Sportskeeda MMA interview, he said:
“I’m at my happiest when I’m concentrating on being a martial artist. If I could just train all day and do martial arts, that would be awesome. I do not want to work in a regular job, I just want to concentrate on martial arts. I want to keep being a martial artist for as long as possible."