Garry Tonon admits being out of his depth in exchanges against Shamil Gasanov

Garry Tonon knew he would be in a tough time against Shamil Gasanov, but he didn’t expect to be out of his wheelhouse the moment their match started.

Gasanov was on fire the moment the bell rang in his featherweight match against Tonon started at ONE Fight Night 12, and he had the American star right where he wanted.

Tonon, however, turned the tables in the second round and submitted Gasanov with a gnarly kneebar that had the crowd inside the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium equally stunned and mortified.

In his post-fight interview, Tonon admitted that he visibly struggled in his early exchanges with Gasanov, especially with how the Russian star aggressively pushed the pace with his wrestling.

Tonon said:

“Yeah, so we spent a lot of time than we normally would, with me doing grapple box situations, which just means like grappling with striking, integrated situations where I was preparing, you know, to be in a situation where I had been taken down, and I had to get back up or defend myself against strikes and these sorts of things.”

Gasanov was still as aggressive in the second round and had Tonon pinned in the corner. ‘The Lion Killer’, however, used Gasanov’s strength against him and rolled to a leg-lock sequence.

After carefully setting up his submission hold, Tonon rolled to his back and constricted Gasanov’s knee in the process.

Tonon eventually chalked up a second straight win, both of which were submission finishes, and improved his MMA record to a stellar 8-1.

It’s unclear what’s next for Tonon, but the No.2-ranked featherweight contender just moved closer to another shot at the ONE featherweight world title.