“Has to be the goal” - Dante Leon hellbent on submitting old foe Tommy Langaker at ONE Fight Night 27

Dante Leon has zeroed in on his ultimate goal when he faces old foe Tommy Langaker.

The Canadian star will face Langaker for the second time in his career when they square off in a catchweight (180 pounds) submission grappling match at ONE Fight Night 27 on Friday, US primetime, at the historic Lumpinee Stadium.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Leon said submitting Langaker would be a huge feather to his cap and possibly strengthen his argument for a world title shot in the foreseeable future.

Dante Leon said:

"To beat somebody like [Langaker] is huge – you beat a Black Belt World Champion. But to submit somebody like that, to control them and submit them, that’s even bigger. With everything that’s attached to that nowadays, I think that has to be the goal going into any match.”

The pair first squared off in the 2018 IBJJF Pan American Championships, with Langaker taking the win via points.

A year after losing to Langaker, Leon burst into superstardom when he captured gold in the 2019 and 2022 IBJJF World Championships.

Leon then signed with ONE Championship in 2024 and made his promotional debut at the stacked ONE 169 card in December when he submitted multi-time BJJ world champion Bruno Pucci in Bangkok.

Now at a crucial juncture in his ONE Championship tenure, Leon wants nothing more than to utterly dominate and submit Langaker in the promotion's first Amazon card of the year.

ONE Fight Night 27 is available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.

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Dante Leon sets his sights on ONE Championship gold

Already a two-time BJJ world champion, Dante Leon wants to add the biggest prize of his career to his growing trophy cabinet.

Leon told Jits Magazine in an interview that he's already set his crosshairs on Kade Ruotolo's ONE lightweight submission grappling world title:

"I like to collect the titles that will kind of give me a legacy, you know what I mean? And I've gained and acquired pretty much all belts from every single promotion. But in my opinion, the most prestigious one, and the one that I have missing, is [the one from] ONE Championship. That's the one I want."