Tye Ruotolo returns to his traditional lane of submission grappling this week but is looking to make a quick turnaround and compete once again in MMA in line with his push to win a world title in the multifaceted sport.

The ONE welterweight submission grappling king will defend his championship belt at ONE Fight Night 41: Sinsamut vs. Jarvis on March 13 at the Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. He will take on the challenge of newcomer Pawel Jaworski of Poland.

Speaking on the Cageside Press podcast in a pre-fight interview, Ruotolo shared that while his focus at the moment is on his defense of the welterweight submission grappling gold, he wants to go back to MMA next and further establish his footing in the discipline to earn a title shot.

The 23-year-old Atos standout said:

“I think I’ll be grateful to be able to defend my belt, and then I’m going to look to move to MMA again. I’m excited to keep that going and I want to find another sick opponent. The stronger the better. I don’t want too many more fights before, I’m looking at a world title shot. So we’ll see who the next one is.”

Check out what he had to say below:

Tye Ruotolo started to compete in MMA as well in ONE Championship last year and has had success, winning each of his first two matches, both by finishes via submission. His most recent victory was in November over Shozo Isojima of Japan, whom he stopped in the opening round.

Tye Ruotolo grateful to be competing under ONE Championship’s submission grappling ruleset

While he is enjoying his time concurrently competing in MMA, Tye Ruotolo is still committed to submission grappling and is grateful that he gets to do it under ONE Championship’s ruleset.

He shared this in the same interview with Cageside Press, highlighting how ONE has done a great job for jiu-jitsu in providing an exciting platform for athletes like him to showcase their skills.

Ruotolo said:

“We’re putting on great matches on the big stage, and we’re doing what we’re supposed to do as athletes, just doing the best possible jiu-jitsu we can. Every once in a while, at the end of the day you can’t control every athlete, but all you can do is alter the ruleset the way ONE has done to make the matches the most exciting they can be. So yeah, I’m grateful to be in ONE Championship. I think it’s the easiest place to have an exciting match and the best place to showcase jiu-jitsu.”

Tye Ruotolo has been undefeated in eight submission grappling matches so far in ONE Championship.

He looks to sustain the streak in his scheduled defense of the welterweight submission grappling world title at ONE Fight Night 41, which is available live in U.S. primetime to North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription.