Dante Leon shares how his friendship with Giancarlo Bodoni is rare at this level of jiu-jitsu

Modified Apr 25, 2025 03:31 GMT

Dante Leon voiced his gratitude for having Giancarlo Bodoni as a friend and training partner.

Over the last five months, Leon had a strong start on the ONE Championship stage and secured back-to-back impressive submission grappling wins. The Canadian grappler has credited a portion of his success to his training partners, including two-time ADCC world champion Giancarlo Bodoni.

While speaking to ONE, Leon had this to say about Bodoni:

“It’s rare that you have an athlete who you can really sit down and really just be locked in and engage with their technical decisions and their technical prowess in a match.”

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Leon and Bodoni had to put their friendship aside in 2024. The world-class grapplers met in the third-place match of the 2024 ADCC World Championships absolute division, where Leon won by decision.

Giancarlo Bodoni confirms he's joining ONE Championship alongside Dante Leon

On Aug. 1, ONE Championship will return to North America for ONE 173, which takes place inside the Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado. The highly anticipated event features the promotional debut of Giancarlo Bodoni, who's scheduled to compete against Rafael Lovato Jr. in a submission grappling match.

Bodoni confirmed the matchup by saying this on Instagram:

"@onechampionship debut is set for August 1st. I’ll be facing an American Legend in @lovatojrbjj. He’s been around repping the US on the biggest stages for a long time and just recently won a silver medal in the division above mine at the most recent ADCC World Championships. Thanks @yodchatri @tomdeblass and the rest of the One team who made this happen. All American 🇺🇸 matchup and clash of generations in Denver Colorado!"

Dante Leon also has his next submission grappling match booked. On Friday, May 2, the Canadian grappler will challenge Tye Ruotolo for his ONE welterweight submission grappling world title in the ONE Fight Night 31 co-main event.

Ruotolo and Leon each hold a win against the other in a different promotion.

ONE Fight Night 31 will take place inside the legendary Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. Next Friday's event can be seen live and for free by American and Canadian viewers with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription.

About the author

Jake Foley is a journalist at Sportskeeda, specializing in covering all forms of combat sports, including MMA, Boxing, Kickboxing, and Muay Thai. His passion is ignited by the exceptional fusion of physical and mental skills demanded by world-class fighters in these sports. Jake is captivated by the intricate mix of fierce determination and a modest mindset exhibited by athletes in these disciplines. He also finds the atmosphere of major championships, like the epic clash between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor, truly unparalleled.

Jake has earned his UFC credentials to cover the major events for Sportskeeda and has conducted several interviews.

Jake supports various teams across several professional sports, including the Las Vegas Raiders, Inter Miami, Norwich City, Miami Marlins, and Las Vegas Golden Knights. The sports moment Jake will never forget is Jon Jones dismantling Vladimir Matyushenko.

Since joining the SportsKeeda team, Jake has written 400 articles covering several MMA promotions, including the UFC and ONE Championship. He continues to work hard to maintain his journalistic integrity and tell the stories of fighters worldwide.

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Edited by Jigyanshushri Mahanta