Tye Ruotolo submits Christian Lee in 2:08 to take ONE lightweight title in his third MMA fight
The 23-year-old grappling champion is now 3-0 in MMA and holds ONE world titles in two sports, after beating the man whose younger brother he submitted in 2025.
Tye Ruotolo submitted Christian Lee with a rear-naked choke at 2:08 of the first round to take the ONE lightweight MMA world title in only his third professional fight, in the main event of The Inner Circle 37 at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok on Friday.
The 23-year-old American is now 3-0 in MMA, with every win by rear-naked choke. The first came against Lee's younger brother, Adrian Lee, in September 2025, and he submitted Shozo Isojima the same way that November. Ruotolo already held the ONE welterweight submission grappling world title, so he now holds ONE world titles in both MMA and submission grappling.
He had told MMA Fighting before the fight: "Realistically, the chances of me winning will be with the submission." He also rated Lee's grappling as "like a six, a five" out of 10.
Lee, a two-division ONE champion going into the fight, had said he planned to "knock him out cold or put him to sleep". He had also named UFC double champion Islam Makhachev as the fighter he most wanted to face.
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Reported by the Combat Sports UK desk. Times are UK and Irish time, and we update the report when the facts change. How we work.