Dante Leon is as accomplished as they come, but he will have his first chance for ONE Championship gold on Friday, May 2. The talented grappler meets Tye Ruotolo at ONE Fight Night 31 as he challenges for the ONE Welterweight Submission Grappling World Championship. However, even as he prepares for his biggest opportunity, Dante Leon reflects on opening his gym in Ohio.
Dante Leon Balances Owning a Gym With Fight Prep Ahead of ONE Fight Night 31
“It’s been a cool kind of experience. When I first started with the jiu-jitsu gym, I was not only an owner, but I was teaching up to four classes a day. So, actually, I won a World Title in 2019. I was teaching an average of three classes a day. I was teaching 15 classes a week, and it was a lot of work,” Dante Leon told ONE.
The growth of the business has allowed Leon to bring in other top talent. Instead of purely focusing on coaching and growing his business, now he can receive world-class training as well. It would not have been possible for Dante Leon without putting in the time early to make sure his gym was one of the elite destinations for grapplers.
Dante Leon Gives Pointers on How To Succeed at Owning Gyms
“Now, I have the time to put my focus and energy into other things, like focusing on being really a professional athlete, focusing on helping my brand grow as well as my gym. My academy is helping get new students in the gym, get new high-level people in the gym for my competitors to train with, for my students to learn from, for me to work with,” the Canadian mentioned.
The 29-year-old is now in a position to offer advice to those other martial artists looking at opening their own gyms. The advice is rather simple. There is no secret sauce to success other than rolling up your sleeves and doing the work.
“It may take time. It may take, like I said, some more money than you expected, some more time, stress, stress on you, stress on your other jobs, stress on other people around you. But eventually, that will grow, and that will be a very, very special thing,” Leon remarked.
Dante Leon Fosters Welcoming Atmosphere in Toledo Gym
Gyms can get a bad reputation if leadership fails. That is why Leon has been proud of what he has built in Toledo at Adamas Jiu-Jitsu. He has fostered a culture of learning, growth, and respect without the toxicity that has infected other places in the past.
“I think the main thing is developing an environment that you truly like to be in. A lot of jiu-jitsu gyms have a lot of drama and have a lot of bulls*** attached to them, and have a lot of, kinda like social clubs, kinda like high school, and people’s feelings get hurt, and all kinds of things are done and said. I think it’s important to build a culture that you are really proud of,” Leon commented.
That pride has carried Leon to the apex of the sport. Now he is nearing a chance to grab the biggest prize in the sport. May 2 will be the date he can put his gym on a global map if he can give Ruotolo the first loss of his already storied ONE career.
ONE Fight Night 31 airs live and free on Prime Video on Friday, May 2. The action begins at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The event is free for all Amazon Prime subscribers based in the U.S. and Canada.
In a recent episode of the Couch Warrior Podcast, host Mike welcomed Charalampos Grigoriou, who recently won a contract during season 7 of Dana White's Contender Series after knocking out Cameron Smotherman one minute into the fight. The conversation delved into Grigoriou's martial arts journey, his feelings on representing Cyprus and Greece, and future plans.
