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The past eight months have been challenging for ONE welterweight submission grappling world champion Tye Ruotolo as he made his way back from a serious knee injury. In particular, the mental side of it as he grappled with a myriad of uncertainties.
The 22-year-old American grappling ace hurt his knee while competing in a CJI tournament in Las Vegas back in August. The injury was serious than initially thought and he had to undergo procedure on it.
While he has since recovered from it, Tye Ruotolo admitted that the recovery process took a lot from him mentally and he is just grateful now that he was able to overcome it.
He told ONE Championship in an interview:
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“I noticed that when you have an injury like that, the inflammation and how much it affects your injury. So just the diet and taking it day by day. When you have an injury, you’re looking in the future and you’re worrying about how much time you’re gonna be out, and you’re worrying about everything in the future that you can’t control."
Tye Ruotolo will mark his return for knee injury at ONE Fight Night 31: Kongthoranee vs. Nong-O II on Prime Video on May 2 at the Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. There he will defend the welterweight Muay Thai belt from familiar foe Dante Leon of Canada.
It will be his second defense of the world title he won in November 2023 after his submission victory over Australian Izaak Michell in April last year.
ONE Fight Night 31 is available live at U.S. primetime to North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription.
Kade Ruotolo believes twin brother Tye Ruotolo can get the job done at ONE Fight Night 31
While the verdict is still out on how Tye Ruotolo will perform coming off a knee injury at ONE Fight Night 31, his twin brother Kade Ruotolo believes he has it in him to get the job done.
The reigning ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion gave his opinion on it in an interview with the Bangkok Post as Tye girds for his third showdown with Dante Leon.
Kade said:
"I’m super excited to see it. I know my brother has the capabilities to get the job done. Last time, it was an awesome match."
The showdown at ONE Fight Night 31 will be the third meeting between Tye Ruotolo and Leon, having battled twice previously outside of ONE Championship, where they scored a victory each.
