Tye Ruotolo spoke about his victory over Dante Leon at ONE Fight Night 31 on May 2, 2025.
Last Friday, May 2, at ONE Fight Night 31, Tye Ruotolo successfully defended his ONE welterweight submission grappling world title with a high-paced, hard-fought decision victory over Dante Leon.
The win marked the American’s second defense of his belt and improved his record against Leon to 2-1.
Ruotolo set the pace early with a clean double-leg takedown into the top position, where he would spend the vast majority of the 10-minute submission-only affair. While Leon showed excellent flexibility and strong defensive awareness, Ruotolo was able to employ his trademark guard passing to secure a pass around the bout’s midpoint.
The Canadian would hang tough and reclaim guard, but ultimately, Ruotolo kept up the pressure while constantly forcing his foe on the defensive, earning himself a clear-cut decision win.
After the match, Ruotolo – who was returning from a knee injury sustained at last year’s Craig Jones Invitational – graded his performance:
“Out of ten, I’d maybe give it a six or seven. I felt like I kind of smashed him pretty good, but I didn’t get the sub. That’s what I always come to do. I felt like I had a little bit of ‘ring rust’ I had to shake off. But I definitely feel like I got a dominant win, so I was happy with that at least.”
In their previous encounter, in 2021 at the Who’s Number One championships, Ruotolo scored a last-second submission victory after nearly 15 minutes of action. He believes that he could have done the same, or at least scored a catch, if their match at ONE Fight Night 31 were a bit longer:
“The last time I got to fight him, I just had a little bit more time to work with. I was able to get the catch in the later minutes. He’s a very safe fighter, so it’s hard to expose him sooner in the match than later. I had maybe one little opportunity that I tried to hop on with an ‘Estima lock’ and a couple of knee bars, but just nothing that was tight enough. If I had a couple more minutes, I feel confident that I would have gotten the catch, but that was all I got in 10 [minutes], so that’s what I was able to do with it. So next time I’ll make sure I get the sub for sure.”
Now, after sharing the competition mat with him for almost 40 minutes, Ruotolo said that he has nothing but respect for his rival:
“Dante’s been in the game for a long time. He’s a seasoned veteran, and he’s got wins over some of the best in the world. After three matches like that, you can’t help but have a lot of respect for the guy, win, lose, or draw. And he’s a cool guy. Before the match, he’s obviously your biggest enemy, and after he’s normal, he’s cool. I got nothing but respect for Dante, he’s a cool guy, [he’s got a] solid team over there at Daisy Fresh.”
Ruotolo said that he’s ready to defend his submission grappling gold whenever the next challenger is ready, but he’s also planning to make his long-awaited MMA debut in the near future:
“Very soon. Just working on some logistic side of things, but I can’t wait to scrap. I’m ready to go.”
As for potential MMA opponents, he explained that he’s interested in a clash with undefeated young star Adrian “The Phenom” Lee. Lee is the younger brother of current two-division ONE world champion Christian Lee and former ONE world champion Angela Lee.
Ruotolo would happily entertain a fight with Lee or, he said, whoever ONE sees fit:
“The Lee fight sounds interesting. Adrian Lee for the debut would be awesome. I don’t really care, that’s one that ONE kind of sent my way. Whoever they want to throw at my way, I’m ready for Adrian, I don’t really have anyone in mind. That’s the first one they threw at me, so that’s the first name I’m sticking with. But whoever they want to throw at me, I’m ready to go, I’m excited to scrap, for sure.”
