‘A Very, Very Special Thing’ – Dante Leon Proud To Grow His Own BJJ Academies While Competing At Elite Level

Two-time IBJJF No-Gi World Champion Dante Leon has spent the past several years cementing himself as one of the planet’s top pound-for-pound submission grapplers – and he’s been doing it all while simultaneously building his own flourishing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academies.

On May 2 in U.S. primetime the 29-year-old BJJ black belt will challenge American superstar Tye Ruotolo for the ONE Welterweight Submission Grappling World Title at ONE Fight Night 31: Kongthoranee vs. Nong-O II on Prime Video.

Now in his final preparations for that massive showdown at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, the Canadian powerhouse recently spoke to onefc.com about his journey as a gym owner.

He opened Adamas Jiu-Jitsu back in 2019, just across the border in Toledo, Ohio. The gym started in a small, shared space, but through Leon’s constant dedication and long hours devoted to building the business, it quickly expanded to its own building.

Today, Adamas Jiu-Jitsu boasts hundreds of students across three different locations around Toledo.

Looking back, Leon admitted it was difficult in the beginning – juggling teaching and competing at the elite level. But with the business now operating as a fine-tuned machine, he’s been able to step back from daily teaching and instead focus on his competitive career and the growth of the schools:

“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.

“Now at this point, it’s really cool to be not teaching all those classes and be in more of a business position. Not that I ever really wasn’t, but now, I’m in more of a business position. Even though I still do get in there and teach a couple classes a week. I do teach all of my instructors and train with them five or six times a week.”

Leon’s hard work to get his gym off the ground is now paying dividends – not just for the business itself but also for his career as a world-class competitor.

As Adamas Jiu-Jitsu continues to attract and develop more high-level grapplers, Leon is gaining high-level training partners for himself, too.

He explained:

“I do have my eye on the gym, and I am in the gym very, very often, like I said. But I’m not strapped down, tied down to it, which is good. You take those years when you’re young, when you can really bust your a**, and you don’t need a lot of sleep. You don’t need a lot of self-care. You can kinda push through it when you’re young and you’re invincible.

“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.”

As an athlete, Leon is renowned for his seemingly unmatched discipline and work ethic. He’s brought that same determined attitude to his business.

The juice, he said, has been worth the squeeze when it comes to creating his own gym from the ground up. His advice to anyone looking to follow in his footsteps is to simply put in 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 Details The Value Of A Healthy Gym Culture

Beyond the sheer number of students enrolled across his three academies and the elite-level competitors that he’s producing, Dante Leon is particularly proud of the culture he’s created at Adamas Jiu-Jitsu.

He’s made sure that his academies are free from the politics and social cliques that plague many other gyms:

“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.”

Ultimately, Leon’s goal with Adamas Jiu-Jitsu is to encourage a culture of acceptance and inclusivity.

He added:

“It’s about that environment that you build. If you build an environment that is accepting, that’s safe for people, and does not have that negativity, and doesn’t have that toxicity that we always hear nightmare stories about, you will build a great place.”