"It's a meat grinder over here" - Dante Leon expects his road to ONE world title will be filled with challenges

29-year-old ground game wizard Dante Leon is scheduled to face former two-time ONE lightweight submission grappling world title challenger Tommy Langaker on Jan. 10 as part of the exciting ONE Fight Night 27 card inside the Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

A win for Leon could potentially inch him closer to a shot at Kade Ruotolo's 26-pound golden belt. However, he acknowledged that it won't be an easy task to do so because of the talent and depth of ONE Championship's roster of submission grapplers.

The Canadian BJJ black belter shared this thought during his most recent appearance on Jits Magazine, where he explained:

"So it's a meat grinder over here. It's tough, it's talented, it's not easy. There's no easy path. There could be a shorter path to the title, but there is no easy path [to the] title. So as far as the belt, I'm in no rush to rush to the belt."

Watch Dante Leon's full interview here:

Leon is fresh off an incredible submission win over Bruno Pucci in his promotional debut last December 2024 at ONE Fight Night 26, as he also bagged a US$50,000 performance bonus from ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong.

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Dante Leon aims to finish Tommy Langaker to show that he's on a different level compared to him

Dante Leon discussed with ONE Championship in an interview before his match with the Norwegian submission maestro that his skills are superior to his, and he wants to prove it by forcing a tap out of Langaker on fight night.

The Pedigo Submission Fighting representative stated:

"I wanna show that there's a gap between Tommy and I. I wanna prove that to the public, and I wanna handle business, and I wanna finish the match."

ONE Fight Night 27 airs live from the Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, on Jan. 10. North American viewers with an active Prime Video subscription can watch all the action live and for free.