MMA fighter Leon Gavanas has been baptised at the Holy Monastery of Gregoriou on Mount Athos.
Video from the monastery circulated this week and shows the sacrament on the Holy Mountain. Baptisms there are uncommon.
The avaton bars women from Athos, so only men and boys receive the rite, often in the sea rather than a font, and only with the abbot’s blessing.
Gavanas was born in Kavala on 7 April 1998. He fights out of Germany — Peiting and Frankfurt — with MMA Spirit. A former boxer and kickboxer, he turned professional in late 2025 as a middleweight. Fight records list a 2–1 pro MMA mark after bouts under MFC and Fight Nation Championship.
The monastery has not issued a long public statement. Orthodox pages sharing the footage present the baptism as his reception into the Church.
Source: Video circulated 21 September 2026; fighter details from public MMA records (Sherdog / Tapology / FightMatrix).
