Born in Maui, Hawaii, of Italian and Puerto Rican heritage, Ruotolo was raised in Huntington Beach, California, and began competing in jiujitsu at age 3. Ruotolo and his twin brother Kade were considered "grappling's first child-stars" and earned a sponsorship with RVCA at the age of 10.[1] They trained at the Art Of Jiu-Jitsu academy (AOJ) for 4 years under Guilherme and Rafael Mendes before switching to Atos jiu-jitsu in 2017, a team to which AOJ was affiliated.[1]
Grappling career
In 2019, Ruotolo who was a 16-year-old blue belt, participated in the 2019 ADCC World Championship in the Lightweight division making him the youngest competitor in history at the time.[1][4][5] He defeated Bruno Frazatto and Pablo Mantovani before losing to Kennedy Maciel in the semi-final.[1][5] He faced Paulo Miyao in the Bronze medal match and lost on points.[1][5] Ruotolo caught Miyao in a kneebar but refused to tap which has resulted in Miyao's knee suffering long term damage.[8]
Both Ruotolo and his brother Kade were promoted to brown belts in BJJ by André Galvão in October 2020.[9]
In January 2022, Ruotolo became a two division WNO champion after winning the WNO 170 lb championship by submitting Levi Jones by kneebar.[1][6]
In the 2022 IBJJF World Jiu-Jitsu Championship, Ruotolo earned a silver medal in the Black Belt Lightweight division after losing to Micael Galvão in the finals on points, but was later declared the world champion after Galvão tested positive for clomiphene.[1][12][13] This meant that Ruotolo became the youngest IBJJF black belt world champion of all time.[3]
In the 2022 ADCC World Championship, Ruotolo competed in the Absolute division against heavier opponents where he defeated Pedro Marinho and Felipe Pena before losing to Nicholas Meregali in a judge decision.[1][14] Ruotolo obtained a bronze medal after Cyborg Abreu medically forfeited the bronze medal match.[1][14] Before that, he also fought at the 88kg division. In round one, he lost to mentor and teammate, Josh Hinger in overtime.[15]
Ruotolo competed in the IBJJF World Championship 2023 on June 3 and 4, 2023 and won a bronze medal in the middleweight division.[16]
Ruotolo was originally scheduled to compete in the 2024 ADCC World Championship but he and his brother Kade withdrew in order to enter the under 80kg division at the inaugural Craig Jones Invitational on August 16-17.[17] Tye Ruotolo submitted Jason Nolf in the opening round and lost in the quarter-final to Levi Jones-Leary by referee decision.[18]
Ruotolo competed against Dagi Arslanaliev at ONE Fight Night 13 on August 5, 2023.[24] He won the match by rear-naked choke submission and was awarded a Performance of the Night bonus award.[25]
Ruotolo competed against Magomed Abdulkadirov for the inaugural ONE Championship welterweight submission grappling title at ONE Fight Night 16 on November 3, 2023.[26] He won the match by decision, winning the title and earning a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus.[27]
Ruotolo was to make his first welterweight title-defense against Izaak Michell at ONE 166 on March 1, 2024.[28] However, the bout was moved back to ONE Fight Night 21 on April 5, 2024 for unknown reasons.[29] Ruotolo won the match by submission with an arm-in rear-naked choke.[30]
Ruotolo competed in a catchweight match against Jozef Chen at ONE Fight Night 23 on July 6, 2024.[31] He won the match by decision.[32]
Mixed martial arts career
The contract that Ruotolo signed to compete in grappling matches for ONE Championship also included provisions for MMA fights as well.[33] Both Tye and his brother Kade Ruotolo announced that they were going to make their professional mixed martial arts debuts before the end of 2023.[34]
