Tye Ruotolo on Chasing a Coyote Mid-Run and Feeling Like Usain Bolt

On The Ariel Helwani Show, the new ONE lightweight champion Tye Ruotolo describes chasing a coyote mid-run during camp and feeling, he says, like Usain Bolt.

Clip: The Ariel Helwani Show interview, from the full source linked below.

Quick answer: On The Ariel Helwani Show, Tye Ruotolo tells Ariel Helwani that, halfway through a training-camp run, "I locked the eye I seen a coyote" and started chasing it. He says he closed the gap until "we're like two feet away from each other," the animal "looks so fearful," and then "kind of breaks away" once it reaches flat ground. The moment, he says, made him feel "like Usain Bolt," with "the most perfect running form ever," and told him "we're good to go" for the fight. Helwani's reaction is that "most normal people" who see a coyote while running "go the opposite direction."

The official YouTube title is Tye Ruotolo on Incredible ONE Title Victory, Future Plans, Doubts Musumeci Will Suceed in Fighting. ONE Championship reported that on November 6, 2026, in the main event of The Inner Circle 37 at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Ruotolo submitted Christian Lee by rear-naked choke at 2:08 of round one to win the ONE Lightweight MMA World Title. Those fight details are not spoken in the coyote story used here. This article stays with that camp-run anecdote, and with the official result only as identification.

There is not yet a RealNameOf biography or real-name page for him.

Halfway through the run

Ruotolo sets the scene as something funny that happened in camp. "Halfway through the run," he says, "I locked the eye I seen a coyote." He was "kind of tripping on it," he says, "and I started kind of chasing it down."

The footing, in his telling, is what made the chase possible. He was on flat ground. The coyote "was on rocks." "So I was able to kind of keep up with it. We're going head to head." For the animal to "peel out in front of me," he says, "he's got to come up to the flat ground." Ruotolo "closed the gap," until, he says, "we're like two feet away from each other."

He wants Helwani to understand how little running he usually does. "This is you know, mid-run. I don't run. It's like my third run, you know, and I'm all locked in." Then he is "like 2 ft from the coyote and the thing like looks so fearful and then finally on the flat ground kind of breaks away."

"I felt like Usain Bolt"

The point of the story, for him, is not the animal. It is how the run felt. "I just remember mentally I was like dude I just never I I felt like I felt like Usain Bolt, you know. I just had like the most perfect running form ever." After that, he says, "I was like oh we're locked in, dude. From that moment I was like we're good to go. Yeah, it's going to be a good fight for sure."

Helwani is not sold on the decision to give chase. "This is unbelievable," he says, "because like most normal people I see a coyote while running I go the opposite direction. You go after the coyote?"

The used portion of the story ends on that question, with laughter in the room. Earlier in the same interview, just before this anecdote, Ruotolo has already talked about starting road work in camp; this article does not pull in that earlier exchange, including a six-mile run he mentions there. In the coyote story itself, he does not name the trail, the city, or the date of the run, and he does not say what happened to the coyote after it broke away. The article does not fill those gaps in.

FAQ

Who is Tye Ruotolo in this interview?

He is the guest on The Ariel Helwani Show episode titled around his ONE title victory. ONE Championship reported that he submitted Christian Lee at 2:08 of round one on November 6, 2026, in Bangkok, to win the ONE Lightweight MMA World Title. That result is not narrated in the coyote anecdote itself.

What happened on the run, in his account?

Halfway through a camp run, he says, he saw a coyote, started chasing it, kept up because he was on flat ground and the coyote was on rocks, and closed the gap to about two feet before the animal reached the flat ground and broke away.

Why does he say the chase mattered?

He says he felt like Usain Bolt, with perfect running form, and that from that moment he felt "locked in" and "good to go" for the fight.

What is Helwani's reaction?

He says most people who see a coyote while running go the other way, and he asks Ruotolo, "You go after the coyote?"