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There's a storm brewing, and Dante Leon is ready to face it head-on.
Working his way up the rankings with a pair of impressive victories over Bruno Pucci and Tommy Langaker, the Canadian BJJ star will look to score his first 26 pounds of ONE Championship gold when he challenges reigning and defending ONE welterweight submission grappling world titleholder, Tye Ruotolo.
The two will co-main event ONE Fight Night 31 on Friday, May 2, when ONE Championship heads back to the iconic confines of Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
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Leon recognizes that his match with Ruotolo is sure to be both fast and furious, but he's embracing it with open arms.
"Even though this is like an F-5 if you're looking at it like a tornado," Leon told ONE Championship. "Even though that's what's about to come, I'm just really excited about it. And I'm really happy about it, and I'm happy to be in the place that I'm at."
Dante Leon confident about getting his hand raised at ONE Fight Night 31
Asked how he sees things playing out at ONE Fight Night 31, Dante Leon declined to offer his insight into how the fight unfolds, but he's nonetheless confident that it'll be his hand raised when all is said and done.
"How the fight unfolds, how it happens, when it happens, I don't know," Leon said in the aforementioned interview. "But as far as who's gonna win the match, I think I'm gonna win the match."
Leon's confidence is by no means misguided. After all, he already holds a victory over Ruotolo, besting the Atos Jiu-Jitsu star in 2020 via a referee's decision at Grapplefest 8.
However, Ruotolo earned some redemption a year later, defeating Leon under the Who's Number One banner via a guillotine choke.
Who takes home the gold and ultimate bragging rights when they close out their trilogy on martial arts' biggest global stage?
ONE Fight Night 31 will air live on Amazon Prime Video in the United States and Canada in U.S. primetime on Friday, May 2.
