Elite competitors Cole Abate and Dante Leon have signed to compete in ONE Championship’s submission grappling division.
Two of grappling’s top competitors are headed to ONE Championship.
On Thursday, the Singapore-based martial arts organization announced that it had signed 19-year-old phenom Cole Abate and multiple-time IBJJF no-gi world champion Dante Leon to compete in its submission grappling ranks.
Abate is one of the most highly touted young talents the sport has ever seen. The youngest-ever athlete to win ADCC Trials, he boasts victories over the likes of ADCC veterans Geo Martinez, Deandre Corbe, and Keith Krikorian. That Trials run earned him a spot in the 66kg division at the 2022 ADCC World Championships, where he would suffer a first-round loss to IBJJF world champion Fabricio “Hokage” Andrey.
Injuries would sideline Abate for much of 2023, but he’s returned to a more active schedule in 2024, winning gold in both gi and no-gi at the IBJJF Pan Pacific Championships.
Abate has trained out of the famed Art of Jiu-Jitsu Academy for the past five years and currently heads up the school’s no-gi program.
Given the hype surrounding him and his proven skills against top grapplers, the 19-year-old represents an exciting addition to ONE’s growing submission grappling divisions.
Dante Leon is an equally exciting addition.
Fresh off an incredible run in the absolute division at the 2024 ADCC World Championships where he defeated ADCC champions Mica Galvao and Giancarlo Bodoni, the Canadian black belt is a well-established elite competitor and one of the sport’s perennial pound-for-pound stars.
Leon is a two-time IBJJF no-gi world champion, a multiple-time ADCC medalist, and a former Who’s Number One lightweight champion. In 2023, he picked up notable victories over Ethan Crelinsten, PJ Barch, and Kenta Iwamoto, among others. What’s more, he moved up several weight classes to claim gold in the super-heavy division at the IBJJF No-Gi Pans. Those impressive performances earned Leon the honors of Grappling Insider’s Male Grappler Of The Year and cemented him as one of the planet’s top pound-for-pound grapplers.
Leon is slated to face UK standout Ellis Younger this Saturday, November 1 at Polaris 30.
Leon stands to make an immediate impact in ONE. While he’s plenty capable of competing across different division, his natural weight class is 170 pounds (lightweight in ONE), where Kade Ruotolo is the reigning titleholder. And, if he wants to move up to 185 pounds, Leon could look forward to a potential showdown with Kade’s twin brother, reigning welterweight titleholder Tye Ruotolo.
No opponents have yet been announced for either man’s promotional debut.
