The Ruotolo brothers are twins based in California USA, but were originally born in Hawaii. They started training in 2006 at just 3 years old. In 2021, they were promoted to black belts under the legendary Andre Galvao at ATOS. However, the pair started their training under the equally legendary Mendes brother’s AOJ gym. They made the switch to ATOS in 2018 where their competition success continued to flourish.
From an early age, the twins would often compete and became famous on social media as a result of their success. Photos of their medal hauls can be found online and they rarely ever lost at the children’s and juvenile divisions. Not only this but in the earlier days, they could be found showing techniques on Youtube. The brothers started BJJ with their father who is also a black belt in his own right.
Both brothers are known for their leg pin pass which has been used by the duo on various occasions at the highest level. The leg pin is used to pass the open guard. Here, the practitioner holds the opponent’s leg whilst standing on the other opponent’s leg. This effectively pins the opponent’s leg to the ground and immobilizes it. With this accomplished, it effectively takes the opponent’s leg out of the equation and enables passing much easier to the pinned side.
In terms of submissions, the brothers are also known to favor the Darce choke which makes use of their long arms. Other upper body attacks include the Rear Naked choke, which is one of their staple submissions. However, perhaps their best known submission was Tye’s kneebar on the veteran Paulo Miyao. Being the youngest ever ADCC competitor at the time, Tye caught Miyao in a nasty kneebar. However, Miyao didn’t tap even though his leg was completely bent and it looked incredibly painful. The image of the altercation subsequently went viral.
Away from BJJ, they are fans of surfing and skateboarding which ties into their west coast lifestyle. They have also been known to train Muay Thai in the past, so perhaps MMA could also be on the cards in the future. As well as this, they have a converted garage space at home to allow for extra BJJ training at home.
Since the brothers are relatively new to competing as adults, they haven’t yet won any major medals. However, you’d be a fool to say they won’t in the future as they’ve already proven to be up there with the very best. This can be seen by various competition runs by either brother. As well as major competitions they are regulars at super fights. Having said this, if their kid’s medals are anything to go by they will soon be earning medals as men.
