Tye Ruotolo Chokes Christian Lee to Win ONE Title

Tye Ruotolo became ONE Championship's lightweight MMA world champion on Friday night in Bangkok, knocking down Christian Lee and then finishing him with a rear-naked choke at 2:08 of the first round in the main event of The Inner Circle 37 at Lumpinee Stadium.

The win makes the 23-year-old American the first athlete in ONE history to hold world titles in both submission grappling and MMA, according to the official report from ONE Championship. It was only his third professional MMA fight.

How Tye Ruotolo finished Christian Lee

Lee, 28, came in as a two-division champion and with a personal motive. His younger brother, Adrian Lee, suffered his first professional loss against Ruotolo, and the older Lee had made clear he wanted to avenge it.

He started well. Lee worked behind a sharp jab, switched to a southpaw stance to mirror his opponent, kept up a stream of trash talk and chopped at the legs with heavy low kicks. Ruotolo stayed patient, kept his guard high and landed a spinning kick that made Lee more careful.

The turning point came when Lee's hands dropped. Ruotolo landed a right hook and then a left to the chin that put the champion down. He moved quickly to side control and then to mount. Lee scrambled free but exposed his back, and Ruotolo locked a body triangle and sank in the choke. Lee tried to peel the arm away but was forced to tap.

Result: Tye Ruotolo def. Christian Lee by rear-naked choke
Time: 2:08 of round one
Title: ONE Lightweight MMA World Championship
Ruotolo's MMA record: 3-0
Bonus: US$100,000 performance bonus from ONE chairman Chatri Sityodtong

What the win means

Ruotolo was already ONE's welterweight submission grappling world champion and is one of the best-known names in modern jiu-jitsu. Moving into MMA, many fans wondered whether his striking would hold up against an experienced finisher like Lee. On Friday, it was a punch that created the opening, before his grappling did the rest.

For Lee, the defeat costs him the lightweight belt, though ONE's report said he still holds the welterweight MMA title. Whether he chases an immediate rematch or returns to defend his other belt will be one of the main storylines for the promotion in the coming months.

Both men had made weight earlier in the week, with Lee at 169.6 lb and Ruotolo at 169.8 lb, as covered in our report on the ONE Championship Lee Ruotolo weigh-in.

A busy weekend at Lumpinee

The Inner Circle 37 shared Friday night at Lumpinee with ONE Friday Fights 177, and our report on the Superball knockout at ONE Friday Fights 177 covers one of the results from that card. The stadium hosts more action on Saturday with ONE Fight Night 49, which goes ahead after two fighters missed weight, as explained in our ONE Fight Night 49 preview.

Bangkok's Lumpinee Stadium has become ONE's main home in Thailand, and its weekly cards are followed closely by fans, expats and Muay Thai students across the country, including at gyms in Phuket. Big title changes like this one also tend to lift interest in grappling classes, which have grown alongside Muay Thai on the island.

What comes next for Tye Ruotolo

ONE has not announced Ruotolo's next opponent. He now carries belts in two sports, so the promotion may ask him to defend them in turn, or line him up against one of the top lightweight contenders. A rematch with Lee would also be an easy sell after such a fast and dramatic finish.

For now, Tye Ruotolo has turned three MMA fights into a world title, and he did it by beating one of the most successful champions in ONE's history inside a round.

Photo: Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, the promotion's home venue where Tye Ruotolo won the title (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0).