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Dante Leon knows winning the ONE welterweight submission grappling world title would be the highlight of his career. To do so, however, he must dethrone arguably one of the best pound-for-pound grapplers on the planet today, Tye Ruotolo, in the penultimate match of ONE Fight Night 31: Kongthoranee vs Nong-O II on Prime Video this coming Friday.
Speaking to ONE Championship ahead of his massive opportunity, Leon shared how grateful he is to duel Ruotolo for a third time on martial arts' biggest platform.
He said:
“It’s the biggest match in the world right now, to be honest"
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He went on to add:
"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."
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Dante Leon and Tye Ruotolo each hold a win over the other in their first two meetings outside the promotion. The stakes are indeed at an all-time high for arguably one of the biggest grudge matches in grappling history.
Despite Ruotolo's dominance, the Canadian challenger remains confident that he'll snap the champ's unbeaten 7-0 run and claim his 26 pounds of gold on May 2 at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Dante Leon thanks ONE for giving grappling the spotlight it deserves
While ONE Championship has the most stacked striking and MMA divisions, the home of martial arts also made sure to highlight the beauty of the grappling arts.
Dante Leon, for one, is blown away by the promotion adding all-grappling matches to its star-studded cards and giving the sport more prominence worldwide.
The 29-year-old BJJ superstar said in the same interview:
"ONE does a great job of balancing everything and making such a great event. It's like a spectacle every time you're there—the lights, the audience, the camera work, it's all incredible."
Prime Video subscribers can watch ONE Fight Night 31 free as it happens live in US Primetime
