ONE Lightweight MMA Title | Tye Ruotolo Submits Christian Lee and Makes ONE History
Three fights into his MMA career, the welterweight submission grappling champion is the first athlete to win ONE world titles in both grappling and MMA.
Tye Ruotolo submitted Christian Lee with a rear-naked choke at 2:08 of the first round on Friday to win the ONE lightweight MMA world title. It was the main event of The Inner Circle 37 at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok.
Ruotolo keeps his welterweight submission grappling title too, so he now holds two ONE belts at once. The finish also earned him a $100,000 performance bonus.
ONE's clip of the finish:
A Knockdown, Then the Back
Lee went to work with his jab from the opening seconds. He switched from his usual orthodox stance to southpaw to mirror Ruotolo, and he talked to him through the early exchanges.
Ruotolo kept his hands high and stayed patient until Lee's hands dropped during a run of low kicks. He stepped in with a right hook, then a left to the chin that put Lee on the canvas.
The rest was jiu-jitsu. Ruotolo moved to side control and then to mount, and when Lee scrambled out he gave up his back. Ruotolo sank the rear-naked choke within moments, and Lee tapped after one last try to pull the arm away.
Three MMA Fights, Three Rear-Naked Chokes
Every MMA win of Ruotolo's career has ended with the same choke, and two of them came against the Lee family. Adrian Lee, Christian's younger brother, was his first opponent in September 2025.
| Opponent | Event | Date | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adrian Lee | ONE Fight Night 35 | Sept 2025 | Rear-naked choke, 4:14 of round 2 |
| Shozo Isojima | ONE 173, Tokyo | Nov 2025 | Rear-naked choke, 2:26 of round 1 |
| Christian Lee | The Inner Circle 37, Bangkok | Nov 6, 2026 | Rear-naked choke, 2:08 of round 1, for the lightweight title |
All three wins came with a performance bonus from ONE: $50,000 for each of the first two, and $100,000 on Friday.
Twelve Fights in ONE Without a Loss
Ruotolo is now 12-0 in ONE, with nine wins in submission grappling and three in MMA. He won the welterweight submission grappling title over Magomed Abdulkadirov in November 2023 and has defended it against Izaak Michell, Dante Leon and Pawel Jaworski.
Before ONE, he won the 2022 IBJJF World Championship at lightweight in the gi. His twin brother, Kade Ruotolo, holds ONE's lightweight submission grappling title and is also unbeaten in MMA.
Lee Still Holds the Welterweight Title
Christian Lee, 28, remains ONE's welterweight MMA world champion, a title he won in November 2022. His record moves to 18-5, and he's still the promotion's leader in wins and finishes.
What Comes Next
ONE has not announced Ruotolo's next fight in either sport. The promotion stays at Lumpinee Stadium for ONE Fight Night 49 later on Friday, where Victor Hugo meets Devhonte Johnson in an openweight grappling match from 6:00 PM PT (9:00 PM ET) on Prime Video.
Our preview of Lee vs Ruotolo has both men's records. The IBJJF Crown on Sunday and the rest of the weekend are in The Weekend Ahead and on our calendar.
All results, records and videos in this story come from official channels.
