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Tye Ruotolo submits Christian Lee to become ONE's first two-sport world champion

Ruotolo finished the two-division champion in the first round at The Inner Circle 37, adding the ONE lightweight MMA title to the grappling championship he already held.

Editorial deskPublished · Updated
3 sources
A fighter's corner between rounds inside Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, with ring ropes and an official visible.
Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, the venue for The Inner Circle 37. General archive photo of the arena from 2015, not from this card. Display crop and resize applied.Mr. Peerapong Prasutr / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tye Ruotolo submitted Christian Lee in the first round of their ONE lightweight MMA title fight on Nov. 6 at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, becoming the first athlete in ONE Championship history to hold world titles in both MMA and submission grappling at the same time, according to the promotion's official result report.

Ruotolo dropped Lee with a right hook followed by a left hand, then advanced through side control into mount. Lee scrambled to his feet but exposed his back in the process, and Ruotolo locked in a figure-four before sinking a rear-naked choke for the tap at 2:08 of round one. MiddleEasy's independent account of the finish matched the sequence.

The win capped a rapid rise for the 23-year-old Ruotolo, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who entered the bout 2-0 in MMA. He earned the title shot with two earlier first-round-style finishes of previously unbeaten opponents: a rear-naked choke of Shozo Isojima at ONE 173, and one of Christian Lee's own younger brother, Adrian Lee, at ONE Fight Night 35, according to MMA Sucka. He already held the ONE Welterweight Submission Grappling World Title, won in 2023, giving him the two-sport distinction with the lightweight MMA belt added.

Lee, 28, loses the lightweight title but remains the ONE Welterweight MMA World Champion, a belt he won by knockout over Kiamrian Abbasov in 2022 and which was not contested in Bangkok, per MiddleEasy's report. The loss drops his MMA record to 18-5 and is only the second stoppage defeat of his career.

ONE chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong awarded Ruotolo a $100,000 performance bonus for the finish.

The source file

Reporting & references

Follow the original reporting and records behind this article.

  1. ONE ChampionshipThe Inner Circle 37 Main Event Result: Tye Ruotolo Dethrones Christian Lee In Round One, Crowned Two-Sport King
  2. MMA SuckaTwo MMA Fights Into His Career, Tye Ruotolo Is Already Set to Challenge for ONE Gold
  3. MiddleEasyTye Ruotolo Submits Christian Lee In Round One To Win ONE Lightweight MMA Title

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