Reinier De Ridder Vs. Tye Ruotolo Submission Grappling Super-Match Added To ONE Fight Night 10
ONE Championship’s North American debut has been strengthened with an epic battle between BJJ sensation Tye Ruotolo and reigning middleweight MMA king Reinier de Ridder.
The pair will face off in a submission grappling super-match at ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs. Moraes III on Prime Video, which airs live in United States primetime from 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colorado.
The two men have openly expressed their desire to meet under this rule set, and they will officially get the opportunity at ONE’s historic event on Friday, May 5.
This rivalry started to build when ONE Middleweight World Champion De Ridder took on Ruotolo’s legendary coach, Andre Galvao, in a submission grappling contest at ONE X in March 2022.
Although Galvao controlled much of their matchup, he could only earn a draw under the rule set at the time.
Meanwhile, De Ridder has asserted that he can choke out anybody in the world – something Ruotolo’s called into question.
And following his latest win over Marat Gafurov at ONE on Prime Video 5, the young grappler took to the mic and called out “The Dutch Knight.”
Ruotolo said:
“I see Reinier de Ridder says he can sub anyone in the world. I’d definitely like to test that. He’s a bit taller, but I think I can definitely sub him.”
De Ridder responded straight away with his acceptance, but he needed some time to recover after losing his light heavyweight MMA belt to Anatoly Malykhin later that night.
He then reignited the fire in January when he posted a picture of himself with the Ruotolo brothers, accompanying it with the following caption:
“Here’s a picture of me and my sons. Do you think one of them can beat their dad in a grappling match already?”
The matchup is now confirmed, and both athletes are ready to back up their words.
Ruotolo has more experience in submission grappling as one of the sport’s true prodigies. The 20-year-old BJJ black belt medaled at the 2022 ADCC World Championships and has submitted both Garry Tonon and Gafurov in ONE Championship.
Meanwhile, De Ridder has competed primarily in MMA in recent years, but he’s displayed his ground prowess with 11 submissions among his 16 career wins.
A BJJ and judo black belt, “The Dutch Knight” is an elite grappler in his own right and surprised many when he went the distance against Galvao last year.
The 32-year-old will also have a size advantage over Ruotolo, but the young American believes he can showcase the essence of jiu-jitsu by taking out bigger rivals.
De Ridder vs. Ruotolo is just the latest addition to ONE Fight Night 10 in Colorado, which also features Demetrious Johnson vs. Adriano Moraes III for the ONE Flyweight World Title, Sage Northcutt vs. Ahmed Mujtaba, and Stamp Fairtex vs. Alyse Anderson.
Stay tuned to onefc.com for more updates on the May 5 bout card.
