is confident that he’ll become a ONE World Champion and solidify himself as one of submission grappling라이브 바카라 all-time greats at .
The Canadian will aim for submission grappling gold at ONE Fight Night 31 this Friday.
is confident that he’ll become a ONE World Champion and solidify himself as one of submission grappling라이브 바카라 all-time greats at .
On May 2 in U.S. primetime, the Canadian dynamo will challenge American superstar for the ONE Welterweight Submission Grappling World Title in one of the sport라이브 바카라 biggest matchups in recent years.
These elite BJJ black belts have collided twice before, with Leon earning a clear-cut decision in 2020 and then Ruotolo winning by submission in their 2021 rematch. Since then, both athletes have gone on to accomplish great things.
The Californian became the youngest-ever IBJJF Black Belt World Champion and ONE라이브 바카라 inaugural welterweight submission grappling king, while Leon added IBJJF No-Gi World and Pan-American golds to his jam-packed trophy case.
Today, each man is considered among the sport라이브 바카라 pound-for-pound best.
According to Leon, their clash at ONE Fight Night 31 represents the absolute pinnacle of competitive grappling. He told :
“It라이브 바카라 the biggest match in the world right now, to be honest. Maybe I’m biased to myself, but when you talk about a match that has history, you talk about a match that has excitement, that has titles, that has accolades, that has prestige, that has, in my opinion, the most respected World Title belt attached to it going to the winner.
“It being on ONE Championship, it being on Amazon Prime. I mean, there라이브 바카라 a million reasons why this is probably the biggest match in the world right now. This is one of the biggest matches that we’ve ever had in the sport.”
Beyond the high-stakes nature of this World Title showdown, the stylistic battle between Ruotolo and Leon is a grappling fan라이브 바카라 dream.
While the titleholder is a true buzzsaw of aggression and activity, Leon is an immensely powerful athlete and arguably the most well-rounded submission hunter in the world.
After sharing the mat with Ruotolo for nearly 30 minutes already, Leon believes that his versatile skill set will allow him to maintain control from the opening bell:
“I think that Tye, we just don’t see him play a lot of guard. We just don’t see him do things like that very often. And why does he really need to if he can just get on top of almost anybody and just do what he does or force people to get down on the bottom?
“Just because of my style, and just because of how things go, you see me play in a lot of different positions. You see me in a lot of different exchanges more so than you do a lot of other people. But, against him, I don’t see this as me having to play anything that he forces me to or he makes me choose.
“The big thing about not getting caught behind, the big thing about not losing dictatorship of the match, is that is I’m making the choices, and I’m directing the ship on where I want it to go.”
After turning in a pair of flawless performances through his first two appearances in ONE, Leon is loaded with positive momentum.
Well aware of the career-defining opportunity before him, he expects to seize the moment and defeat Ruotolo in emphatic fashion:
“I 100 percent feel like I’m going to win this match.
“I’m going to try to submit him. I’m going to try to beat him and secure a victory that takes all judges, takes any kind of opinion out of it. It라이브 바카라 gonna be a submission victory, if it라이브 바카라 gonna be anything. I’m 100 percent confident in that happening.”
For Dante Leon, owning 26 pounds of ONE Championship gold wouldn’t just be another line on his lengthy list of accomplishments – it would cement his status as one of the best grapplers in history.
Still just 29 years old but with a wealth of accolades and experience under his belt, he admitted he라이브 바카라 constantly thinking about his legacy.
His clash with Tye Ruotolo at ONE Fight Night 31, he explained, will be a pivotal moment in determining how he is ultimately remembered:
“All of these matches and all of these things that I’ve been doing recently have really been something that can help forge my legacy and help my story live on through many, many years, even after I’m dead and gone.
“I think matches like this can live on forever, and that라이브 바카라 a special thing, and that라이브 바카라 very real.”
Indeed, Leon has spent his entire black belt career fishing for the biggest fish in the sea, in constant search of the most challenging opponents available to him.
Ruotolo – who라이브 바카라 undefeated across his ONE tenure – certainly fits the bill. This Friday, Leon will look to overcome this massive hurdle and capture the most prestigious prize in martial arts:
“I’ve always looked to hunt down World Champions and guys who are ranked the best in the world. And that라이브 바카라 because I want people to look back at my career, and I don’t wanna have this thing of, like, ‘Oh, he didn’t fight anybody. Like, he has 200 wins, but, you know, he fought nobody.’ No. I wanna be able to have 30, 40 World Champions that have been defeated by me.
“The title at ONE is a very special thing for any martial artist, any person. That라이브 바카라 huge. That라이브 바카라 monumental.”