Tye Ruotolo Reveals How he Overcame “Biggest Injury” of His Career Ahead of ONE Fight Night 31

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Tye Ruotolo is gearing up for his return after being sidelined by a serious knee injury. The ONE Welterweight Submission Grappling World Champion will face Canadian superstar Dante Leon in the co-main event of ONE Fight Night 31.

On 3 May, the historic Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, will serve as the battleground for his comeback and toughest challenge yet. For the first time in his career, the 22-year-old megastar was forced to stay away from competition due to an injury.

Now, he is returning to do what he loves most - compete. Ruotolo recalled the extent of his ailment. But he also expressed gratitude that he didn't have to go under the knife as the injury healed on its own after a few months.

"It was the biggest injury I've had in jiu-jitsu. I've had some torn ligaments before in my knee, but nothing quite to the extent and the amount of damage I did this last time," Ruotolo said.

"I didn't need to go with the surgery. My body ended up healing after a couple months. And yeah, it's just been getting my knee strong and getting it ready for competition over the past six months - longest time I've ever been out of competition and off the mats."

Tye and his twin brother Kade took the world by storm from a young age with their ultra-aggressive submission-hunting style. Since making their ONE debuts in 2022, both have become ONE World Champions and are still undefeated.

Kade took his career further by transitioning to MMA, winning all three of his fights by first-round submission. Tye enjoyed the success of his brother in the all-encompassing sport, but that also made him a little jealous, as he couldn't train with him due to injury.

"I feel like the toughest part was watching [Kade] scrapping in MMA. It just made me really wanna scrap, too. But, also, it was nice just being able to be in the coach's chair and not have to worry about competing," Ruotolo said.

"Usually, we compete on the same night, or I got something else to stress about, but I was there just fully in coach mode in the last six months. Obviously, whenever he fights, I wanna be scrapping right there with him, though. But I'm happy to be back."