One Championship Stars Tye and Kade Ruotolo Ready for a Showdown

There is a strong possibility that the Ruotolo twins will meet in the finals of the Craig Jones Invitational

Kade and Tye Ruotolo, two of ONE Championship’s emerging stars, will compete in the Craig Jones Invitational.

The tournament, which starts on Friday and airs for free on YouTube, is rapidly becoming the premier international submission grappling tournament. That distinction formerly belonged solely to the ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship, but the Craig Jones Invitational is offering higher pay–and it is running directly against ADCC.

“I love ADCC,” said Tye Ruotolo. “Kade and I, we grew up watching ADCC, and it held a lot of weight for us. The reality is we switched over to CJI, and the guys we’re fighting are going to be a lot bigger. There is a million-dollar prize, so financially it makes a lot of sense, and all the guys we want to scrap with are in CJI.”

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The Ruotolo twins are on opposite sides of the CJI bracket, which opens the possibility they could meet in the championship.

“I want to beat him in the finals,” said Tye, who is six minutes older than Kade. “It would be an alpha check. That would be a sick final match.”

Of course, there is no guarantee that is bound to happen. The field is exceptionally talented, full of the most elite competition in the world.

“This whole tournament is so stacked,” said Kade Ruotolo. “Every person here has the capability of winning it, so we’ll need to be sharp and at our best. I’m expecting the toughest match-ups of my life, hopefully all the way through to my brother.”

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This begins a very eventful stretch for Kade. Next month, he defends his ONE Championship Lightweight Submission Grappling Championship against Mikey Musumeci at ONE 168 in Colorado during ONE’s return to the United States.

“It’s going to be a true clash of technique,” said Ruotolo. “There will be constant submission attempts. We’re stoked–it’s going to be a great one for the fans.”

There is also a high probability that Kade will have his next MMA bout this fall. Despite having food poisoning the night before his MMA debut in June at ONE 167, he still defeated Blake Cooper by submission in three-minutes-and-twenty-seconds.

“I was spitting blood and puking nonstop,” said Kade. “That was awful. I got like two hours of sleep the night before, so I was a little nervous. I really wanted to finish it early, and that’s what I was able to do.”