WNO light-weight champion Dante Leon spoke to Grappling Insider intimately about his upcoming title protection towards Diego “Pato” Oliveira.
Recent off a sensational 12 months of competitors that noticed him successful Grappling Insider’s 2023 Male Grappler of the Year, Dante Leon is kicking off his 2024 towards one of many world’s high pound-for-pound rivals.
On Friday, February 9, the Daisy Recent consultant will put his Who’s Quantity One (WNO) light-weight title on the road towards WNO featherweight champion Diego “Pato” Oliveira, stay from Costa Mesa, California at WNO 22: Rodriguez vs. Hugo.
Leon just lately sat down with Grappling Insider to interrupt down this much-anticipated matchup. Take a look at the complete interview under.
Leon acknowledges that Oliveira – a 2023 IBJJF gi and no-gi world champion – possesses an aggressive, submission-hunting fashion that fits the WNO submission-only rule set:
“Pato has a fairly distinctive recreation. It’s very sub-only oriented, he assaults lots of submissions, so making ready for anyone like him is so much totally different than making ready for lots of different guys within the division as a result of he’s far more aggressive, I’d say, together with his assaults.”
Whereas Pato is maybe finest acknowledged for his harmful leg lock recreation, Leon sees him as a well-rounded grappler able to attacking equally effectively from the highest place as his again.
One explicit ability that stands out, he says, is Pato’s potential to retain guard:
“He sort of does all the things effectively. He’s a great grappler. It’s sort of arduous to essentially pick an space that I feel he’s recognized for… He clearly has a really robust guard. He clearly has lots of power in addition to dexterity to have the ability to retain guard towards larger guys. I feel one of the best factor about Pato, actually, everyone talks about his leg locks, issues like that, he’s an excellent leg locker. I feel one of the best factor about him is his potential to retain guard, his potential to fend off guard passes.”
For his half, Leon is an equally well-rounded competitor. Nonetheless, when the 2 conflict on February 9, most followers count on to see Leon working from the highest place whereas the Brazilian assaults from his guard.
Leon admits that reaching the guard cross will probably be no simple activity, and factors out that Pato’s smaller stature could make passing much more troublesome:
“Passing his guard is not any totally different than passing anyone else’s guard. I feel it’s just a bit more difficult. He’s most likely extra versatile. He most likely has actually sturdy legs. He has actually quick legs… He’s so much shorter than nearly all of folks I’ve competed towards. It’s not simpler for him to retain guard however he doesn’t actually need lots of house. I don’t suppose passing his guard goes to be one thing other-worldly.”
Finally, Leon is coming into his first WNO title protection assured he’s the superior grappler.
Whereas some would possibly confuse that confidence with trash speak, Leon disagrees. He acknowledges that, in all probability, Pato holds the identical perception.
He added:
“To be sincere, I simply suppose I’m higher than he’s in all places. I do know he has his issues and I don’t suppose it’s essentially one thing to say something filled with it, however I feel he most likely thinks the identical factor too. There could be no motive he would transfer as much as 155 and attempt to problem me for the title if he simply absolutely believed in his coronary heart that I used to be higher than he was. There could be no level in that. That’s most likely not one thing he stands for.
“I really consider I’m higher than he’s. I really consider that I can put stress and tempo and method on him that he hasn’t felt perhaps ever. And positively not for a extremely very long time. He’s been competing towards some good guys however some guys who’ve a really totally different recreation and a really totally different strategy to matches than I do.”
watch: Dante Leon vs. Diego “Pato” Oliveira takes place on Friday, February 9, at WNO: Rodriguez vs. Hugo and can air stay on FloGrappling (subscription required) starting at 9:00 PM ET.
