Tye Ruotolo gearing up for his IBJJF middleweight debut

ONE lightweight submission grappling superstar and IBJJF world champion Tye Ruotolo is gearing up to take part in the IBJJF world championships this month. Making a name for himself in the lightweight (-77 kg) ranks in both Gi and No Gi jiu-jitsu, Tye Ruotolo will make his middleweight (-82.3 kg) this year.

Competing in IBJJF tournaments since he was a young boy, Ruotolo, together with his twin brother Kade, was largely seen to be the future of the sport. They have, for the most part, been good at living up to the expectation. At just 20 years old, the young lion is still yet to hit his prime, and moving up to middleweight seems the most logical step for a growing athlete to take.

This might also be due to the fact that Kade is the ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion. The Ruotolo brothers could be taking the "divide and conquer" route in taking over the sport.

"I’ve competed 2x for Ibjjf in the last 4 years. My brown belt debut and my black belt debut in the lightweight division. Somehow I am the #2 seed 😂 I’m feeling great and ready for my middleweight debut 🔥"

To the uninitiated, IBJJF is the world's leading organization in Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournaments. For decades now, they have been the gold standard for finding out who is the best in the world. Think of IBJJF as Brazilian jiu-jitsu's version of the Superbowl.

Last year, Tye Ruotolo finished second in IBJJF's lightweight division. However, that year's gold medal winner, Mica Galvao, got suspended for PED usage. He was then stripped of his world title, which automatically made Ruotolo the gold medalist that year. This also meant that Tye Ruotolo is the youngest IBJJF world champion ever at just 20 years old.

We're expecting Ruotolo to make history yet again by trying to win another world title in a second weight class at IBJJF this year.