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Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Tye Ruotolo enters Lumpinee Stadium on May 2 for ONE Fight Night 31 with supreme confidence despite his extended absence from competition.
The ONE welterweight submission grappling world champion defends his gold against rival Dante Leon in a highly anticipated trilogy, which serves as the co-main event.
Ruotolo was last in action in his triumphant outing against Jozef Chen at ONE Fight Night 23 in July last year. Since then, he's battled and overcome one of the worst injuries of his career, but the lengthy layoff doesn't concern him the slightest:
"So I think seven months off the mats isn't gonna make too big of a difference. I've been doing jiu-jitsu since I was three years old. So, yeah, I'm good," the 22-year-old told ONE Championship ahead of fight night.
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As one of the most disciplined athletes, Ruotolo never spared a second when he was fight-fit.
The Atos representative immediately put in the work alongside his twin brother and fellow ONE world champion, Kade, to make sure his relentless submission-hunting game would be part of the package he brings to ONE Fight Night 31.
Leon, meanwhile, presents a formidable challenge with his well-rounded grappling arsenal. The Canadian has proved in a couple of appearances that he can hang with Ruotolo's pace and technique.
As such, fans can expect a technical masterclass when these submission specialists collide with world championship gold on the line in Bangkok on May 2.
Tye Ruotolo admits seeing Kade's MMA success made him "really wanna scrap"
Injury wasn't the only thing that bothered the ONE welterweight submission grappling world champion during his lengthy road to recovery.
Tye Ruotolo admits that having to take a seat back and watch Kade accumulate three victories from as many fights in MMA was something that left him with a sting:
"I feel like the toughest part was watching [Kade] scrapping in MMA. It just made me really wanna scrap, too," Tye Ruotolo told the promotion.
ONE Fight Night 31 will be available to active Amazon Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada for free.
