Sports
Tye Ruotolo submits Christian Lee in round one to win the ONE lightweight title
Tye Ruotolo finished Christian Lee with a first-round rear-naked choke in Bangkok to claim the ONE lightweight MMA belt in just his third pro fight.
A three-fight MMA run just produced a world champion.
Tye Ruotolo submitted Christian Lee with a first-round rear-naked choke on Friday morning in Bangkok to claim the ONE Championship lightweight MMA title.
The finish came after Ruotolo dropped Lee with a combination then poured on ground-and-pound before taking the back. It was his third straight first-round rear-naked choke win in ONE.
From grappling belt to MMA gold
Ruotolo already held ONE's welterweight submission grappling title. The Hawaii-born black belt under Andre Galvao is now a two-sport ONE champion at 23 with a $100000 performance bonus for the Lumpinee Stadium win.
"I 100 percent wanted to get it done in the first round" Ruotolo said afterward. "It was epic. Got my hands going. I consider that a TKO even though I finished him with the sub."
Lee loses the lightweight strap
Lee entered as a two-division champion and leaves with only the welterweight belt after his first stoppage loss in more than a decade. Ruotolo previously finished Lee's brother Adrian the same way.
ONE billed the lightweight limit at 170 pounds under its rules. Twin brother Kade Ruotolo remains a ONE submission grappling titleholder.
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