The Inner Circle 37 Main Event Result: Tye Ruotolo Dethrones Christian Lee In Round One, Crowned Two-Sport King
A new dynasty is here, and ONE Welterweight Submission Grappling World Champion Tye Ruotolo built its foundation with a first-round submission of Christian “The Warrior” Lee to capture the ONE Lightweight MMA World Title in the main event of The Inner Circle 37 in Bangkok’s historic Lumpinee Stadium.
The win welcomed the American ground game wizard into the elite club of two-sport ONE World Champions, and he did it on an Asia primetime card that streamed exclusively for members at live.onefc.com on Friday, November 6.
Ruotolo had already conquered the grappling realm, and he arrived chasing that same greatness in MMA in only his third fight. On Lee’s end, the night was personal.
The Singaporean-American megastar, who also reigns as the ONE Welterweight MMA World Champion, stepped in to avenge his younger brother, Adrian “The Phenom” Lee, whose first professional loss came at Ruotolo’s hands.
From the opening seconds, “The Warrior” went to work with his stinging, world-class jab. Lee, who typically fights orthodox, even matched his dance partner’s southpaw stance and played mind games, talking to the challenger in an effort to get inside his head.
Still, the 23-year-old challenger stayed composed, keeping his guard high and his footwork disciplined, until a nifty spinning kick got his 28-year-old opponent’s full attention.
Lee, meanwhile, kept up the verbal assault while chopping away with punishing low kicks, but his hands drifted dangerously low against the elite grappler. The window opened, and the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt did not hesitate.
He rushed forward, clipped Lee with a right hook, and followed with a dynamite left to the chin that dropped the Prodigy Training Center representative. From there, Ruotolo swarmed into side control and worked his way to mount.
Lee scrambled out in a frenzy, but he gave up his back in the escape and left his neck exposed.
The Roots of Jiu Jitsu athlete needed no second invitation, locking in the figure-four within moments and squeezing until the champion’s face turned red. Lee made one last effort to peel the hand away, but the rear-naked choke was in too deep, and he was forced to tap at 2:08 of round one.
The win pushed Ruotolo to 3-0 in MMA, capping a meteoric rise and making him the first athlete in ONE history to capture World Titles in both submission grappling and MMA. He also earned a US$100,000 performance bonus from ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong.
