Tye Ruotolo Praises Pawel Jaworski's Heel Hook But Banks On Well-Rounded Game

ONE Welterweight Submission Grappling World Champion Tye Ruotolo puts his unbeaten ONE record and his title on the line against Polish debutant Pawel Jaworski in the co-main event of ONE Fight Night 41 on March 14.

It is the kind of high-stakes assignment that Ruotolo has built his entire career preparing for.

"I always go back to the saying 'preparation meets opportunity equals success.' I prepared the best I could, and the opportunity came exactly the way I was hoping it would," the 23-year-old said.

Ruotolo's credentials speak for themselves. A former IBJJF World Champion and one of the most celebrated pound-for-pound grapplers on the planet, he claimed the inaugural ONE Welterweight Submission Grappling World Title in 2023.

The American superstar has since gone 10-0 in ONE Championship with six finishes. His aggressive, submission-hunting style has made him a nightmare for opponents across both submission grappling and MMA, where he recently added two more victories to his growing resume.

Meanwhile, Jaworski enters as the most credentialed debutant Ruotolo has faced.

The 21-year-old Polish black belt captured three major IBJJF titles last year, capped by the No-Gi IBJJF World Championship. Ruotolo has studied him closely and gives full credit where it is due.

"I think he might attack a heel hook better than I can attack a heel hook. But in every other category of jiu-jitsu, in the most humble way possible, I'm more experienced and I understand jiu-jitsu better," Ruotolo said.

Ruotolo sees a clear structural advantage in his own game that he believes will prove decisive when the match gets underway.

"I think he's a little bit of a one-trick pony, but he's as good as it gets at what he does, 100 percent. I'm not underestimating him in any shape or form. I just think I have many different routes to victory, and I think his route to victory is one," he said.