Tye Ruotolo says '97%' of his jiu-jitsu teammates were on steroids at times

Tye Ruotolo, the new ONE lightweight MMA world champion and reigning ONE welterweight submission grappling champion, says steroid use in jiu-jitsu training rooms has been so widespread that at times almost everyone around him was on them. Ruotolo made the comments on The Ariel Helwani Show on Tuesday, November 10, four days after he submitted Christian Lee in the first round to win the ONE lightweight MMA title at The Inner Circle 37 in Bangkok.

What Ruotolo said

In a clip posted by Ariel Helwani on X, Ruotolo said: "There'd be times on the mat where genuinely like 97% of my teammates were on steroids. I'm looking around like, 'Whoa.' It's just a weird reality in the jiu-jitsu world."

He added: "I don't know why it's been like that. It's just been like that forever," and described the situation as frustrating. Helwani framed the clip around Ruotolo's frustration with the lack of drug testing in jiu-jitsu.

Ruotolo did not name any teammates, gyms or competitors, and he did not say which period or which training room he was referring to. His comments are his own account and have not been independently verified. Knockout Daily, which wrote up the interview, noted the same caveat: it is one athlete's description of what he has seen, and no specific grappler was accused.

Why it matters

Performance-enhancing drug use has long been a talking point in submission grappling, where many major events do not run comprehensive drug-testing programs. Coming from a decorated grappler, the claim is likely to add to that debate. Ruotolo, 23, is the youngest IBJJF black belt world champion in history and has competed against many of the sport's top names.

Ruotolo has trained with Atos Jiu-Jitsu under Andre Galvao alongside his twin brother, Kade Ruotolo, though he did not single out any team in the clip.

Musumeci, ONE future and the ocean

Ruotolo covered several other topics on the show:

• On Mikey Musumeci moving into MMA, he said: "I love Mikey... He doesn't look like he'd be the greatest fighter, but I've never seen him strike." According to Knockout Daily, he added that "some people are fighters, and they have it in them. Some people don't really like to fight," while warning not to judge a book by its cover.
• He acknowledged that ONE's MMA divisions have been "thinning out a little bit" in recent years but said he has no plans to leave, noting there is still good competition he cannot take lightly.
• Uncrowned reported from the interview that Ruotolo is locked in with ONE Championship for at least six more fights.
• He explained that surfing and diving have helped him mentally, saying "whatever makes you feel like you're going to die is going to be the best training."

Background

Ruotolo dropped Christian Lee with a one-two, took his back and finished him with a rear-naked choke in Round 1 on November 6 at Lumpinee Stadium. It was only his third professional MMA fight, and it made him a two-sport ONE world champion, holding gold in both MMA and submission grappling.

No jiu-jitsu organization or ONE Championship has publicly responded to Ruotolo's comments.