Christian Lee Defends Lightweight Title Against Phenomenon Tye Ruotolo at Lumpinee

This Friday, September 6, Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok will host one of the year's most intriguing matchups in ONE Championship. Christian "The Warrior" Lee defends his ONE World Lightweight MMA Championship against Tye Ruotolo, the current welterweight submission grappling champion of the organization. The fight is the main event of The Inner Circle 37, starting at 6:30 PM Bangkok time, according to the official ONE announcement. The event will be streamed exclusively for members at live.onefc.com.

Lee enters the bout with a record of 18-4 and an impressive finishing rate: according to Sherdog, he has 13 wins by knockout and four by submission. His last appearance was in November 2025, where he stopped Alibeg Rasulov with knees in the second round to retain his title. Sherdog also notes that he has lost only one of his last 11 fights. According to ONE's statistics, the 28-year-old is the organization’s leader in wins, submissions, and first-round finishes.

On the other side stands one of the most feared grapplers on the planet, who is still new to MMA. Ruotolo, 23, holds a 2-0 record in the sport, with both victories in ONE and both by rear-naked choke. He is also 9-0 in submission grappling within the organization (according to Sherdog). His MMA debut came against Adrian Lee, Christian's younger brother, whom he submitted in the second round. This marked Adrian's first career loss. Ruotolo then finished Shozo Isojima in under three minutes.

Now, in the third MMA fight of his career, Ruotolo aims to achieve something that ONE claims has never happened: a submission grappling champion winning an MMA title in the organization. For Lee, this fight carries additional familial significance beyond just another title defense.