Tye Ruotolo jokingly provides ‘good strategy’ to beat Jonathan Haggerty in MMA: “Push kick-double leg!”

At ONE Fight Night 16, Tye Ruotolo shared the card with one of the best strikers in the world today.

In a huge matchup for his own career, the 20-year-old grappling prodigy finally got the world championship opportunity that he has been chasing down this past weekend.

Facing Dagestani wizard Magomed Abdulkadirov for the inaugural ONE welterweight submission grappling world championship, Ruotolo got his hand raised at the end of the time limit.

With one final fight set to close the show at the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, the night belonged to Jonathan Haggerty. Stopping Fabricio Andrade in the second round, the Brit became a two-sport world champion by winning the vacant ONE bantamweight kickboxing world championship.

Having stolen the show in the main event with a second incredible victory under the ONE Championship banner in 2023, there’s no doubt that ‘The General’ will be in contention for fighter of the year.

Both Ruotolo and Haggerty have also expressed their interest in pushing themselves even further by making transitions to MMA in the future to test themselves outside of the realms that they are currently two of the best in the world in.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post after the contest, Tye Ruotolo spoke about his plans for a switch to MMA and how he would approach it.

When Haggerty was brought into the conversation, Tye expressed no interest whatsoever in standing with the Muay Thai and kickboxing world champion:

“Fighting him? Straight to the double leg! I'll tell you what, push kick-double leg! I think that's a good strategy, yeah all right.”

Watch the full interview below:

While Haggerty would be a huge threat in MMA with his striking, there’s no doubt that the Ruotolo brothers would also be nightmare matchups for a lot of fighters with their elite submission skills.

North American viewers with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription can rewatch all the action from ONE Fight Night 16 via the free event replay.