Dante Leon gives props to Bruno Pucci for taking match against him: "It definitely takes some guts"

Dante Leon greatly respects ONE featherweight MMA fighter Bruno Pucci for agreeing to be his promotional debut opponent at ONE Fight Night 26 on Friday, Dec. 6. The event will take place inside the legendary Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

Speaking exclusively with ONE, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) phenom gave the two-time IBJJF No-Gi World Champion his respect:

"I appreciate him taking the match. I mean, I'm not an easy guy to go against you, not just because of the style, but I'm active. I'm not somebody who you can catch coming off the bench or something like that."

Leon continued:

"So, yeah, I tip my hat to him for that one, for him to come back to grappling. Going against me, it definitely takes some guts for sure, but I'm sure he has no shortage of that given that he's had a 13-fight MMA career."

ONE Fight Night 26 is set to be a memorable night for both Leon and Pucci, as the former has promised a dazzling display of BJJ wizardry in his first outing as a ONE athlete.

Meanwhile, the event will mark Pucci's first-ever submission grappling rules bout in his 11-year tenure with ONE.

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Dante Leon believes Bruno Pucci could have been a BJJ megastar

Despite what Bruno Pucci has achieved as a BJJ athlete, Dante Leon argued that he could have reached even greater heights if he did not commit to MMA.

The 29-year-old recently told ONE:

"He's one of those guys that if he decided to just stick with jiu-jitsu, who knows? Maybe he could have been a guy who won world titles and things like that. But, he decided to go to MMA for whatever reason he chose. It looks like it's been successful for him."

ONE Fight Night 26 will air live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.