Garry Tonon says ‘breaking’ Shamil Gasanov was the only way to win: ”I had him dead to rights”

Entering his pivotal featherweight clash with Shamil Gasanov at ONE Fight Night 12, Garry Tonon knew his opponent wasn’t going to surrender his undefeated record easily.

With that in mind, he resorted to extreme measures last Saturday and took away the “0” in the Russian’s slate with one of the most fearsome submission finishes in the promotion's history.

Things looked bleak early on for Tonon in round 1, where he was on the receiving end of crushing grounded knees to the head from the Dagestani wrestler.

‘The Lion Killer’ survived and flip the script in the ensuing round, as he latched onto one of Gasanov’s legs and did significant damage.

The decorated BJJ world champion performed one of his patented leg entries and secured a textbook kneebar.

Lesser opponents would have tapped right there and then, but the ultra-tough Gasanov soldiered on and even verbally told the referee he was “ok”.

Turns out, ‘The Cobra’ was wrong, and completely misread the danger he was in.

In one swift motion, Tonon hyper-extended the Russian’s knee and tried to take it home back to America. The pain was so unbearable that the fifth-ranked featherweight contender screamed in agony and waived the white flag.

Having been in the same position countless times, Tonon revealed he had no choice but to yank Gasanov’s knee into oblivion, seeing it as his only path to victory.

Here's what Tonon told Mitch Chilson in his ringside interview after the big win:

“Keep in mind I had to break him. I had him in a dead-to-rights knee bar he knew it. But I had to break all the way through before he was willing to give up. You know, so those breaking mechanics are important.”

Check out Tonon’s nasty submission win by watching the replay of ONE Fight Night 12. The entire event is available free for existing Prime Video users in North America.