Tye Ruotolo - WNO Middleweight & Welterweight BJJ Champion

Tye Ruotolo is a BJJ Black Belt under Andre Galvao, who is a 4th-Degree BJJ Black Belt and is called the King of Grappling. Tye is associated with Atos Jiu-Jitsu. He became famous when he received his first brand endorsement when he was only 10 years old.

Tye Ruotolo was born on 22 January 2003 in Maui. It is a state of Hawaii with Italian and Puerto Rican heritage.

Tye’s family moved to Huntington Beach in California when he and his twin brother Kade were babies.

As his parents had experience with BJJ, they wanted their sons to learn BJJ. So, they enrolled Tye and his twin brother Kade Ruotolo in Cleber Luciano’s BJJ school.

Tye’s first BJJ competition was in 2006 when he was only 3 years old.

Tye’s father was an active BJJ practitioner. With his father’s guidance and the training of Luciano, Tye and his brother started to climb the ladder of success in the sport. They were called “Grappling First Child Stars”.

Because of his status, he earned a sponsorship with one of the top athletic brands (RVCA) when he was only 10 years old.

The fame of the Ruotolo brothers took them to one of the most famous BJJ academies, the Art of Jiu-Jitsu Academy (AOJ). It was mainly because of Tye and Kade’s relation to the brand RVCA. AOJ was led by IBJJF World Champions Luiz Guilherme and Rafael Mendes. Tye, Kade, and their younger sister Nya trained at AOJ for almost 4 years.

In the middle of 2017, Kade moved to Atos Headquarters Academy located in San Diego. At that time, Atos Academy was affiliated with AOJ. At Atos HQ, Tye’s finances were taken care of by Andre Galvao. Training with Andre Galvao was a life-changing experience for Tye.

Tye’s first pro-level No-Gi fight was in November 2018, at the East Coast ADCC Trials in New Jersey. Being a 15-year-old Blue Belt, he reached the semi-final of the tournament. He defeated many professional adult athletes to reach there.

Andre Galvao awarded him with the Blue Belt on 5 April 2018 when he was 15 years old.

Tye received his Purple Belt on 27 December 2019 at the age of 16.

He earned the Brown Belt on 19 October 2020 at the age of 17.

Finally, he was promoted to Black Belt by Andre Galvao on 14 December 2021 when he was 18 years old.

Tye had a really good experience at the East Coast event so he went for the No-Gi West Coast event too. Due to his excellent performance, he was invited to the semi-final in Anaheim in September 2019. He amazed everybody there because of his performance while being only a 16-year-old boy.

Tye won the title of WNO Champion by defeating Levi Jones-Leary in only 5 minutes.

He became the IBJJF World Champion in 2021 while still being a Brown Belt.

The fight between Tye and Garry was a historic fight. Garry Tonon is a top-class BJJ fighter as he puts his opponent in a dangerous position to gain advantage points. He did the same with Tye. But Type is also a very avid grappler. He swiftly came out of the position and applied the Darce Choke. He submitted Gary Tonon in only 1 minute and 37 seconds.

Kody’s fighting style is more like wrestling which is also called wrestling-Jitsu. He fights to gain the dominant position so he can be on top of his opponent.

In most fights, Tye applies the Darce Choke because of his long hands which makes it easy.

Tye grabs his head of Kody and pulls him down to the mat. Tye tried multiple times to pull Kody down to the mat and when he finally succeeded, he gained the dominant position.

Tye tried guard passing by switching the sides. Kody stayed extended on the mat to prevent himself from Tye’s aggressive moves. Tye also put his hand on Kody’s mouth to obstruct his breathing. The throws by Tye were pretty savage. Finally, Tye submitted Kody with the Inside Heel Hook. Tye submitted his Kody in only 13 minutes and 30 seconds.

Tye Ruotolo is ranked the number 1 middleweight grappler in the world. His fight in 84 Kg was an epic fight.

Tye grabbed Tama from the back and took him down on the mat. Instantly, Tama pinned Tye to the ground. Tye came in the dominant position when he had his arm around Tama’s neck. From that point, he could easily apply to RNC or Darce Choke.

Tama tried to strip the neck grip of Tye. Tye then rolled into the top position, applied Darce choke, and submitted Johnny Tama in 9 minutes and 37 seconds.

Kade got the advantage point for nearly applying the takedown against Tye. Tye tried to apply the Inside Heel Hook but the situation was instantly invented by Kade.

Kade again secured 2 points by the sweep from the guard position. The match was quite difficult and there were not enough chances for Tye’s victory. But he submitted Kade by applying the deadly Armbar. Tye won the match in 6 minutes and 13 seconds.

• WNO Middleweight and Welterweight Champion
• ADCC World Champion
• Jiu-Jitsu’s Top Lightweight Champion

Tye and Kade Ruotolo filmed some BJJ courses for beginners so that they can become better at BJJ.

• Leg Lock Land Mines: Attacking & Counter Attacking
• Upper Body Submission Assault
• The Leg Pin Passing System
• Darces From Everywhere
• Scientifically Shutting Down Modern Leg Attacks
• The Good, The Bad, and The Buggy

The Mat time was calculated with the help of Tye’s fighting method:

• 55% on the Top
• 34% Stand-up
• 11% on the Bottom

After becoming professional grapplers, Tye and Kade Ruotolo are building their own gym in Costa Rica, Marbella (Guanacaste). Being only 19 years old, both brothers have created a big name in BJJ.

Mica Galvão vs Tye Ruotolo - Final - Who’s number one

Garry Tonon vs. Tye Ruotolo | ONE Championship Full Fight

Tye Ruotolo v Lucas Valente / World Championship 2022

Tye Ruotolo VS Kekoa Torres / World Championship 2019

Tye Ruotolo vs. Kody Steele | Who's Number One

Photo credit: @onefc