Dante Leon just made his promotional debut at ONE Fight Night 26 on December 6th, 2024 and he was incredibly successful in doing so. Leon was up against MMA veteran Bruno Pucci in his first ONE Championship match and although he was the favorite coming into it, he still impressed in the ring. Pucci tried to start off aggressively by shooting in for a takedown early but Leon sprawled hard and immediately took his back. It was pretty much over from there, as Leon worked patiently to trap one of Pucci’s arms and it wasn’t long at all before he was able to do so.
Leon started to attack one of Pucci’s arms and it briefly looked like he might submit him with a shoulder-lock from the back, but Pucci was able to relieve some of the pressure by starting to come up. That led him straight into Leon’s rear-triangle choke though, and Leon still had control over the original arm he was attacking as well. Leon extended the arm and forced Pucci to tap to the triangle armbar, and it was all over incredibly quickly. After just two minutes and one second of action, Leon was declared the winner and he set himself up for an even bigger match against a tougher opponent in his next outing.
Leon was far from the only elite grappler competing at ONE Fight Night 26 though, and it wasn’t long after his win that Cole Abate submitted combat sports legend Shinya Aoki. The card continued with several more fights until one of the most important grappling matches of the night took place. Mayssa Bastos managed to defend her atomweight title in the rematch with Danielle Kelly and not only is she still the champion, but she also became the first woman to successfully defend a ONE Championship submission grappling title. In the end it was a great night full of high-level grappling, with three matches featuring some of the best in the world.
ONE Fight Night 26 Full Results
Christian Lee vs Alibeg Rasulov ends in a No Contest – Accidental Eye Poke
Kongthoranee Sor Sommai defeats Nakrob Fairtex via Decision – Unanimous
Mayssa Bastos defeats Danielle Kelly via Decision – Unanimous
Bastos retains the women’s atomweight submission grappling world championship
Reece McLaren defeats Jarred Brooks via Decision – Split
Elias Mahmoudi defeats Denis Puric via Knockout – Knees to the body & Punches
Yuya Wakamatsu defeats Gilbert Nakatani via Decision – Unanimous
Shamil Gasanov defeats Halil Amir via Decision – Unanimous
Cole Abate defeats Shinya Aoki via Submission – Heel Hook
Jonathan Di Bella defeats Rui Botelho via Decision – Unanimous
Dante Leon defeats Bruno Pucci via Submission – Triangle Armbar
Thongpoon PK Saenchai defeats Danial Williams via TKO – Punches
The full ONE Fight Night 26 event replay, including Dante Leon submitting Bruno Pucci, is available to watch on Amazon Prime.
