Dante Leon ONE Fight Night 31: "That was diabolical" - Fans feel the pain Dante Leon administered in his slick submission of Bruno Pucci in ONE debut

Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) megastar Dante Leon wanted to give ONE Championship fans a promotional debut they would never forget at ONE Fight Night 26 last December.

Squaring off against BJJ veteran-turned-featherweight MMA fighter Bruno Pucci, the Canadian proved his hype to be real. He chained submission maneuvers, starting with his unique 'Thunder Lock', into a triangle armbar submission to force 'Puccibull' to tap.

Watch the entire sequence below, which ONE posted on Instagram:

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Leon's masterful dismantling of Pucci while also applying a move that most fans had never seen before left many in awe of his skill.

They wrote in the comments section:

"Dude wanted to lose his arm lol."

"That smile was diabolical."

"Hit em with that Schwifty 🔥"

Screenshot of comments. [ONE Championship/Instagram]

The 29-year-old then produced a unanimous decision outing over former ONE lightweight submission grappling world championship challenger Tommy Langaker this past January.

With two superb wins to start his ONE tenure, Leon earned the right to challenge ONE welterweight submission grappling world champion Tye Ruotolo at ONE Fight Night 31 on Friday, May 2, inside the Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

Dante Leon admits Tye Ruotolo's enigmatic moveset is a problem

Dante Leon and Tye Ruotolo both have one win over the other in their BJJ careers. While the former is eager to beat the latter, he admitted that it will not come easily at all.

The Pedigo Submission Fighting affiliate told ONE in a recent interview:

"And then on top of it, he has D'Arce and buggies. So it's something that's not - they don't really go hand in hand. Usually, you see people who would attack submissions like that, they're the not-so-athletic type."

ONE Fight Night 31 will be available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.

About the author

Karl has been an MMA writer at Sportskeeda since 2023. He holds a Bachelor of Arts major in history, which helps him pay attention to the finer details while writing, and also has first-hand experience in boxing. He has a total experience of 5 years, and has worked for the International Business Times.

Karl turned into an MMA fan back in 2011 after watching Tito Ortiz defeat Ryan Bader via first-round submission at UFC 132. He has interviewed ONE world champions like Eduard Folayang, Joshua Pacio, Stamp Fairtex, and Tawanchai in his career so far.

On the non-MMA side of things, he interviewed WWE superstar Matt Riddle in 2021 and his question about Roman Reigns elicited an interesting answer which was widely covered by outlets like Sportskeeda and Cultaholic Wrestling's YouTube channel. He has also interviewed NBA stars Dwight Howard, Nick Young, Andre Roberson, Shabazz Muhammad, Jason Williams and Brian Scalabrine plus Filipino women's volleyball star Alyssa Valdez.

Karl ensures to double-check facts before using them in articles, and reads up on potential topics for pieces a day before. In his off time, he likes to play video games, and keep up with basketball and pro wrestling.

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Edited by C. Naik