Pawel Jaworski Ready To Test Himself Against Tye Ruotolo At ONE Fight Night 41

Not many grapplers make their promotional debut against the best in the world. Pawel Jaworski is not complaining about it.

The 21-year-old Polish black belt will step into the ONE ring for the first time when he challenges reigning ONE Welterweight Submission Grappling World Champion Tye Ruotolo in a 10-minute contest in the co-main event of ONE Fight Night 41 on March 14.

The opportunity arrived with little warning. ONE Championship reached out to the Academia Gorila representative at one of the most intense moments of his competitive calendar.

"I was surprised. We got contacted by ONE between the semifinal and the final of IBJJF Worlds in December. So, I was a bit shocked, but I was very happy to get this fight with Tye," Jaworski said.

The shock was understandable. The happiness, however, made perfect sense given where Jaworski stands in the grappling world.

The Pole is the reigning IBJJF No-Gi World Champion, a gold medalist at No-Gi Pans and No-Gi Europeans, and a black belt earner at just 21 years old. He has done everything asked of him on the competition circuit, and a World Title challenge on the grandest stage is the natural next step.

Standing across from him will be Ruotolo, a 23-year-old American who has steamrolled the submission grappling world to build a perfect 10-0 overall ONE record. The Californian returns to the mat after back-to-back MMA victories, bringing with him the kind of well-rounded, high-pressure game that has made him nearly impossible to solve.

Jaworski has studied the champion carefully and offers an honest assessment.

"It's hard to say what weaknesses he has. He's the best in the world right now. In general, he's very well-rounded," he said.

Yet Jaworski sees opportunity within the very qualities that make Ruotolo so dangerous.

"The style of the Ruotolo brothers is very chaotic, but they control the chaos that they are making. I hope this match will finish by submission, and it's gonna be entertaining for the people. It's hard to predict because anything can happen," he said.