Garry Tonon on loaded featherweight MMA division: “A lot of game opponents coming up”

Garry Tonon might have his eyes on the ranked contenders and featherweight gold at the moment. But ‘The Lion Killer’ notices plenty of underdogs and up-and-comers eager to make it big in the stacked weight division.

The No.2-ranked contender and former featherweight world title challenger views this as a positive and healthy challenge, which means better fights should any non-ranked fighters earn a feather in their cap by defeating the athletes in the ranked spots.

In an interview with ONE Championship, fresh off his submission win over Shamil Gasanov at ONE Fight Night 12 inside the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, Garry Tonon offered his views on the division as a whole.

The 31-year-old said:

“Yeah, a lot of game opponents coming up in this division.”

As things stand in the 155-pound division, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert is at number two, behind No.1-ranked Thanh Le and divisional king Tang Kai. Ilya Freymanov (3), Martin Nguyen (4), and Shamil Gasanov (5) fill the rest of the spots.

Outside the top five is where things get more interesting, with a sea of warriors vying for a chance to make it big and punch their ticket into the elite category.

Names like Kim Jae Woong, Leonardo Casotti, Kirill Gorobets, Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg, Akbar Abdullaev, Keanu Subba, Amir Khan, Ryogo Takahashi, Oh Ho Taek, and Yoon Chang Min are all proven fighters with tremendous finishing abilities.

On their day, they could pull off an upset. And if Garry Tonon’s statement is anything to go by, he knows there is no time for slacking in the featherweight MMA division of ONE Championship.