“Let’s do that” – Garry Tonon calls for featherweight MMA world title shot in Denver for ONE Fight Night 26

Garry Tonon would love to be part of ONE Championship’s hotly anticipated return to the United States in the second half of 2024.

‘The Lion Killer’ is riding the waves of confidence after his quick work of Martin Nguyen at ONE 165 last Sunday, January 28.

That evening, the top-ranked featherweight contender potentially booked a spot at the crown via a first-round submission of Nguyen.

With Thanh Le and Tang Kai set to unify their gold this year, the Evolve MMA and Team Renzo Gracie affiliate would love to meet either man at ONE Fight Night 26, the first of two on-ground cards in the U.S. this year, on September 6 in Denver’s Ball Arena.

Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda MMA, Garry Tonon said:

“I believe the Denver show is first, so yeah let's do that. But, you know, if not the Atlanta show. Man, I would love to fight for my U.S. fans, to have a fight on American soil, just because I have never had the opportunity.”

He added:

“I’m probably one of the first one of the few American mixed martial artists that even you know does MMA that has never had the opportunity to fight period in America. So that would be such an amazing experience to be able to do that in the U.S. in front of the U.S. fans.”

Watch the full interview here:

---

“I would love that to happen” – Garry Tonon on debuting in the United States

After beating the very best of submission grappling alongside multiple Brazilian jiu-jitsu world titles, Garry Tonon inked a deal with the world’s largest martial arts organization to compete across grappling and MMA bouts.

Under the submission grappling banner in ONE, the 32-year-old athlete has put up a 1-1 run, with a victory over Shinya Aoki and a defeat to Tye Ruotolo.

‘The Lion Killer’ took his renowned grappling skills to MMA since, boasting an 8-1 record, with seven of his wins coming by way of finish.

He wants to maintain his MMA charge and introduce his brand to American fans when ONE Championship returns with ONE Fight Night 26 in Q3 of 2024.

In the same interview, Garry Tonon added:

“I love Asia. I love traveling to all these places, you know. I love Japan but, you know, I'm sure that a Japanese fighter would say the same thing if they hadn't had the opportunity to fight in their own home country that they would be dying to do so. And yeah, so I would love that to happen. Hopefully, it does.”