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ONE welterweight submission grappling world champion Tye Ruotolo of the United States tuned in as a fan when fellow BJJ superstars Rafael Lovato Jr. and Giancarlo Bodoni threw down at ONE 173.
After 10 minutes of grappling excellence, the 42-year-old Lovato outclassed his much younger opponent for the unanimous decision win in middleweight submission grappling action on November 16 at the Ariake Arena.
Ruotolo, who’s the youngest IBJJ world champion, had nothing but praise for Lovato’s signature timeless BJJ against the two-time ADCC World Champion.
The Atos standout told Nick Atkin in his post-event interview:
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"I love Lovato, bro. So I got so much respect for that guy. He's such an absolute, he's such a legend. He's been around the game so long, and his game is timeless jiu-jitsu, you know, and that's really the case, you know."
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Lovato retired from MMA with a perfect 11-0 record and returned to his roots, competing at the highest levels of grappling even in his forties.
The Oklahoma native proved once more that elite BJJ fundamentals transcend generations when he conquered Bodoni, who’s considered one of the best in the world.
Meanwhile, Ruotolo also competed in the same event, winning his second MMA outing via submission against Shozo Isojima.
Watch the full interview:
Tye Ruotolo shares the moment he knew victory was at hand
Tye Ruotolo came out aggressively and tried to knock out Shozo Isojima in the opening minute with some hard shots.
The reigning ONE welterweight submission grappling world champion tagged the Japanese star a couple of times and wanted the knockout.
Then again, the allure of choking someone out was too hard to pass up.
"I felt like I rocked him a couple good times. I saw his eyes kind of starting to, you know, go around and I wanted to stay on him and finish the fight on the feet for sure, but yeah, I just, I'm a jiu-jitsu guy, you know, so it's hard, it's hard not to choke for sure,” he told Nick Atkin.
