Dante Leon - Top No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu Grappler

Dante Leon is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt and is a No-Gi World Champion. He works for Grappling Fight GF in Toledo, Ohio. It was on May 6, 1995, that Leon was born in Ontario, Canada. Currently, he competes in the middleweight class (181.6 pounds).

In his teens, Leon began practicing Jiu-Jitsu and frequently traveled across the Canadian-U.S. borders to take courses. When Dante was just an orange belt, Rubens Charles taught him how to invert during private lessons. After winning the 2017 and 2018 IBJJF Pan No-Gi Championships and the 2019 IBJJF World No-Gi Championships as a black belt, Leon has built a name for himself as a No-Gi competitor and super fighter.

In the small Ontario hamlet of Harrow in Essex County, Dante’s parents were teachers and musicians.

Leon played ice hockey till his teen age in the Ontario region, where Dante was born and raised. Dante's father introduced him to combat sports and martial arts at the age of six, and these occupations remained an important part of his childhood.

He was fortunate that both of his parents were affiliated with different prestigious professions. In his early teen years, Dante’s mother wanted him to learn music besides playing hockey.

Dante’s father Dino was a martial artist. He knew the importance of martial arts in life. He was the one to introduce Dante to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Dante began learning Brazilian jiu-jitsu at 12, followed by boxing. He got the opportunity to train with Windsor Essex's most experienced competitors of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Leon has been training in Jiu-Jitsu since 2007. After meeting with his first coach, Dean Hersche (Late), the youthful Canadian could not resist the urge to swim in the deep waters of grappling.

Leon once said after a session at Tecumseh Jiu Jitsu gym ,“What I love most about jiu-jitsu is competing.”

Leon once said,

Despite his growing interest in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, he was aware of the differences and approaches of other martial arts. He's aware that most people don't comprehend the level of skill required to bring down the skilled opponent.

Leon graduated from a White to a Purple Belt under the Gracie Humaitá/Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu organization. He needed a better training environment as his dreams in the sport intensified. His close friend Kelly Hymore helped him make that happen by introducing him to Abraham Marte and then his meeting was arranged with Vitor Oliveira of GF Team.

Kelly Hymore would eventually move Dante and Gutemberg Pereira to Toledo, Ohio, in the United States to get training at Grappling Fight Team (GFT) Toledo, full-time under the guidance of the same Kelly Hymore. The IBJJF and UAEJJF competitions were dominated by the pair (Leon and Pereira) under this new schedule. Vitor Oliveira and Julio César Pereira awarded them Black Belts in June 2017 after a string of successes.

As a black belt, Leon's ultimate goal was to win Championship Gold in his weight class and in the Open Weight Class.

He says,

Dante Leon shared about his favorite move,” My favorite move is constantly changing but it’s no secret I love to take the back and finish, rear naked choke being my biggest weapon from the back.”

Dante faced Tye Ruotolo at Grappler Fest 8 in 2020. Both competitors show off their elite grappling skills in a very offensive style. Dante dominated the fight and won by points.

The bout was held in the 2021 Kansas City Open No-Gi competition. Both fighters relentlessly fought but Dante dominates the scorecard and strangled Santiago at the 3:10 of the fight in a lethal triangle choke and get the submission.

Both fighters faced each other at the eliminator round of 2016 Pan Championship. It was a show off of amazing techniques and defensive style grappling moves. Dante won the fight by getting a submission.

Dante Leon is running his gym Adamas Jiu-Jitsu Toledo in Canada in collaboration with GF Team Toledo and GF Team Perrysburg. The basic aim of the gym is to promote martial arts with self-defense and discipline.

A family-friendly environment is maintained for the trainers to learn and pursue their careers as BJJ instructors. There is no age limit to joining the gym.

Dante Leon’s long range of instructional videos is available for learning different techniques of BJJ including takedowns, guard passes, submissions, and back attacks.

Dante holds six IBJJF World Championships titles and a UAEJJF World Championship title. The fact that he has achieved world championship status at every belt color ranking, which very few fighters are able to achieve.

• National Championships
• International Championships

One time Kasai Grappling
One time IBJJF Pans Championship
One time UAEJJF USA National Pro – Long Beach

 One-Time IBJJF World Championship No-Gi.

Nicholas Meregali VS Dante Leon / Pan Championship 2016

Nicky Ryan fights through an injury & defeats Dante Leon | 2021 Road to ADCC

Full Match: Dante Leon vs. Roberto Jimenez | Who's Number One

Dante Leon v Paulo Costa / World NoGi 2021

Dante Leon vs Eliezer Skaf / Chicago Summer Open 2017

Photo credit: @danteleonbjj