Both Tye Ruotolo and JT Torres have entered the middleweight division at the IBJJF World Championship 2023, ready to challenge the reigning champion Tainan Dalpra for the title. Ruotolo isn’t alone in representing ATOS in the division either, as Andy Murasaki will also be competing at the event and he’ll no doubt be eager to dethrone Dalpra as well. The division is actually incredibly difficult wherever you look with AJ Agazarm, Tarik Hopstock, Alexandre De Jesus, Bradley Hill, and Pedro Maia all competing at that weight as well.
How the gameplay of these two lightweight aces will translate against bigger opponents should be interesting to observe. Tye Ruotolo, in particular, has seen quite a bit of recent high-profile success at heavier weight classes in other major competition venues, including a unanimous decision victory in a submission grappling superfight over ONE Championship’s MMA light heavyweight veteran Reinier de Ridder, and a bronze medal finish in ADCC 2022’s stacked absolute division.
The full event will be streaming from FloGrappling from June 1 through June 4.
