Garry Tonon argues he’s fought tougher opposition compared to Shamil Gasanov in their respective MMA careers

Garry Tonon is heading into his pivotal matchup against Shamil Gasanov with the confidence borne out of ONE Championship’s toughest tests.

The American submission machine will take on Gasanov at ONE Fight Night 12 this Friday, US time, at the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok.

This bout between two ranked featherweight contenders has huge implications for the division, with the winner possibly securing a crack at ONE featherweight world champion Tang Kai.

Heading into his ninth MMA bout, Tonon believes he's had a tougher run in the sport compared to Gasanov despite the Russian holding a perfect 13-0 record.

Tonon told ONE Championship:

“So, to some degree, he's got a lot of fight experience, right? But fight experience is different than fight experience against top-level guys. And I would say, at the very least, let's see what point in my career did I get to that point where I was, like, fighting some of the toughest guys, probably somewhere around, like, fourth or fifth fight?"

The No.2-ranked featherweight contender added:

“All those other fights were dangerous, for sure. I just think that that's when I started fighting some of the toughest guys. So I have a few more fights under my belt against some of the toughest guys that were much more dangerous, I think.”

Tonon is a multiple-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion and is regarded as one of the best submission grapplers of his generation.

After making his ONE Championship debut in a submission grappling match against Shinya Aoki in 2017, Tonon transitioned to MMA and racked up six straight wins to earn a world title shot against then-featherweight king Thanh Le.

Tonon, however, fell short in his bid against Le at ONE: Lights Out in March 2022. Nevertheless, ‘The Lion Killer’ has bounced back with a first-round submission win over Johnny Nunez at ONE Fight Night 6 this past January.

Gasanov, meanwhile, has just one fight in ONE Championship, but it was a memorable one.

‘The Cobra’ debuted against Kim Jae Woong at ONE on Prime Video 3, and quickly established himself as a ferocious grappler when he submitted the South Korean KO artist in the opening round.

That win earned Gasanov the No.5 spot in the featherweight rankings.

ONE Fight Night 12 is available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America.