ONE Championship returns to Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok on Friday, November 6, with The Inner Circle 37 and ONE Friday Fights 177. Lumpinee is one of Thailand’s best-known Muay Thai venues. The two events together host 14 bouts and 28 fighters. All passed their weight and hydration checks on Thursday, so the full card is set to go ahead as planned.
The two shows are separate programmes held on the same night. The Inner Circle is a members-only broadcast with a smaller five-fight card, while ONE Friday Fights is the promotion’s weekly Lumpinee show and carries nine bouts.
The main event is a world championship fight. Singaporean-American Christian Lee, 28, will defend his ONE Lightweight MMA World Championship against American Tye Ruotolo, 23. Lee also holds the promotion’s welterweight MMA title, but only the lightweight belt is up for grabs on Friday. His professional record stands at 18-4 with 17 finishes. Both men made the 170-pound limit, with Lee checking in at 169.6 pounds and Ruotolo at 169.8 pounds.
Lee, nicknamed “The Warrior”, has built a reputation as a finisher. Of his 17 finishes, 11 came in the first round, and his fights last just over five minutes on average. According to BJPenn.com, no fighter in ONE has more wins, more finishes or more first-round finishes than Lee. The title bout is scheduled for five rounds.
If you’re a reader who doesn’t follow the sport, the story is the contrast of styles. Ruotolo is the ONE welterweight submission grappling champion. Submission grappling is a style of grappling without strikes, where a fighter wins by forcing the opponent to tap out with a choke or a joint lock. MMA also allows punches, kicks and knees. Ruotolo has had just two MMA fights to date, both submission wins, and Friday is scheduled to be his third. A win would see him become the first fighter to hold ONE world titles in both MMA and submission grappling.
There’s also a family history. In Ruotolo’s MMA debut, he submitted Lee’s younger brother, Adrian Lee, with a rear-naked choke in round two. It was Adrian’s first loss as a professional. Christian Lee has said that Friday is his chance to even the score, while Ruotolo has said he expects to finish things early.
Ruotolo’s rise has been quick. The win over Adrian Lee earned him a US$50,000 performance bonus, and he followed it with a first-round submission of Shozo Isojima in under three minutes. His twin brother Kade, ONE’s lightweight submission grappling champion, is 4-0 in MMA, so the two brothers are a combined 6-0.
On paper, the fight sets Lee’s experience against Ruotolo’s fast start in the sport. Lee has more than 20 professional fights behind him, while Ruotolo is preparing for only his third.
The Inner Circle 37 has five fights total. The co-main event is a bantamweight Muay Thai bout between Komawut FA Group and Yodphupa Petkiatpet. It is a rematch of their meeting at ONE Friday Fights 50 in February 2024, which Komawut won by split decision. Muay Thai, Thailand’s national combat sport, permits strikes with fists, elbows, knees and shins.
ONE Friday Fights 177 is headlined by another bantamweight Muay Thai clash between Isannuea Sor Sasiwat and Jack Siatanyokkrok PK. The event features nine fights in total. Saksri Superlek Muaythai and Superball Sitcho also fight in a flyweight Muay Thai bout.
