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Dante Leon plans to mix strategy and excitement into his clash with ONE welterweight submission grappling world champion Tye Ruotolo.
In just a few short hours, Leon will step back onto martial arts' biggest global stage for what is sure to be the biggest BJJ match of his career thus far.
Emanating from the legendary Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Leon will challenge Ruotolo for his welterweight submission grappling crown in the ONE Fight Night 31 co-main event on Friday, May 2.
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Offering some insight into his strategy during an interview with ONE Championship, Leon revealed that he's definitely going into the bout with a game plan, but no matter how technical things get, giving fans an exciting match is still a top priority.
"As far as me, I think I can fight guys like that on all levels," Leon said. "I think I can be very technical. I think I can be very tight. I think I can play a very–not necessarily ‘strategic,’ because that word always means that you're gonna be boring nowadays, but strategic with excitement."
Preparing for Tye Ruotolo proved to be a tough task for Dante Leon
Tye Ruotolo goes into his second defense of his 26 pounds of gold with a perfect 7-0 record under the ONE Championship banner, much of that thanks to Ruotolo's aggressive and unorthodox style of grappling.
To try and prepare for his match with the 22-year-old BJJ sensation, Leon tried to bring in grapplers to emulate Ruotolo's style.
However, that proved to be much more difficult than expected.
"And that's another thing about him. He is unorthodox," Leon said. "So we do have quite a few people that I train with that have some similarities to him. But if you're looking for a one-stop shop as somebody who can just emulate Tye Ruotolo, it's kinda tough to just get that one person."
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.
