is excited to see his good friend and former training partner make waves in ONE Championship.
Before Bodoni makes his later this summer at , Leon will challenge American superstar for the ONE Welterweight Submission Grappling World Title in U.S. primetime on May 2 at .
Ahead of that World Title clash at Bangkok라이브 바카라 Lumpinee Stadium, the Canadian powerhouse spoke to about his longstanding friendship with Bodoni.
The two grapplers met back in 2018 in Toledo, Ohio. At the time, they were the only two North Americans on a team that was otherwise made up of Brazilians. Naturally, they latched onto each other.
Leon recalled:
“Giancarlo and I kinda took a liking to each other really quick. We shared a room. We were roommates for his time in Ohio, and we got really close. We traveled around together. We competed a lot.
“He was a great training partner for me. We just had a good friendship. We just really hit it off. And when he moved on, he moved to North Carolina. We still stayed in touch.”
In the following years, both men would go on to cement themselves among the top pound-for-pound submission grapplers on the planet, packing their trophy cases with medals from the sport라이브 바카라 most prestigious competitions.
Through it all, despite the distance between them and the demands of training at an elite level, they’ve remained incredibly close.
Leon said:
“We’ve taken training trips together to go different places and hang out, things like that. So even though we don’t see each other that much, we’re still best of friends. We still make an effort to stay in touch with each other. We still help each other out and support each other in any way we can.
“And that라이브 바카라 just one of the rare things that comes with this sport. When you’re training all the time and you’re at a high level, it라이브 바카라 really hard to develop a true, good friendship with somebody.
“It라이브 바카라 like our lives have changed and evolved so much, but we still make a lot of time for each other. And even though there라이브 바카라 less time today than there was five and six years ago, we still make a lot of time for each other and put effort into the friendship.”
In August, Bodoni will make his ONE debut when he takes on decorated veteran in Denver, Colorado.
According to Leon, fans are in for a treat when his friend competes. He said Bodoni will showcase an unmatched level of ground-fighting mastery that everyone in the sport should study:
“I think Giancarlo really has some of the best jiu-jitsu in the world. When you look at somebody like him, he라이브 바카라 not blisteringly fast. He is athletic, I will say, but he doesn’t do anything acrobatic, super athletic. When you watch him do things, you can see step-by-step really what he라이브 바카라 doing, and how he라이브 바카라 doing it, and how effective he is.
“It라이브 바카라 rare that you have an athlete who you can really sit down and really just be locked in and engage with their technical decisions and their technical prowess in a match.”
Leon Opens Up About ‘Emotional’ Matchup With Bodoni
The friendship between Dante Leon and Giancarlo Bodoni has survived more than just time and distance; it라이브 바카라 even survived them competing against each other.
At the 2024 ADCC World Championships, Leon battled his way to the bronze medal match in the absolute division – one of the most incredible runs in recent memory. Waiting for him was none other than Bodoni, who had already claimed gold in the 88-kilogram division.
Leon admitted that he wasn’t particularly excited about facing his friend:
“We got matched up against each other. We easily could have said, ‘No. I’m not doing this. I don’t wanna go against this guy.’ And in that, you probably would be trusting what you kinda feel in your heart a little bit.”
Ultimately, the two grappling stars would square off, and despite a 20-pound disadvantage, Leon emerged victorious by way of decision.
The Canadian said that he gave it his all against Bodoni. Anything less would have been disrespectful:
“When we trained together, when we lifted together, I don’t think we ever gave each other anything. If somebody did something or got something on somebody, it was always respected. It was always applauded, and I don’t think that tournament was any different.
“It sucked. We had a chat about it after. We did not like it. Deep down, it라이브 바카라 a little bit emotional. You share some emotional time about it. But we both said to each other we’re glad we did what we did because that is part of the job.”
