"By default, I would listen to classic rock" - Garry Tonon says old school rock is his go-to genre

Garry Tonon might just be as passionate a music fan as he is a fighter.

The submission specialist revealed in an interview with ONE Championship that he’s a self-proclaimed rockhead with a preference for the classics of the electrifying genre.

A choir boy growing up, Tonon maintained his love for music when he transitioned from music to Brazilian jiu-jitsu and eventually mixed martial arts. He told ONE Championship:

“By default, I would listen to classic rock. I think that comes mostly from the fact that those were the kinds of things that a lot of my role models growing up were listening to."

The AC/DC fan added that it was his stepfather and aunt who shaped his love for rock music.

“My stepfather played the guitar and listened to a lot of classic rock and stuff. My aunt as well was into a lot of classic rock. She was somebody that was a big role model in my life, too.”

While he first started listening to AC/DC and Foreigner, ‘The Lion Killer’ was also a big fan of the music of his generation. Tonon, who’s now 30 years old, grew up in the generation that got introduced to nu-metal and pop-punk.

Of all the bands that shaped the early 2000s, Linkin Park and Sum 41 are still on Garry Tonon’s playlists.

“Linkin Park was a big one when I was a kid that I would listen to. I still listen to it now, but that was something more of my generation that I was listening to that I found to be really interesting. The lyrics were very good, and the style of the genre was just very cool. It tended to mix a lot of different things. You had a little bit of rap, a little bit of rock, a little bit of punk all mixed together, which was kind of cool. So I really enjoyed stuff like that.”

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From fighter to singer, Garry Tonon might just return to his musical roots

Garry Tonon will return to the ONE circle on May 20 when he takes on Tye Ruotolo in a submission grappling match at ONE 157: Petchmorakot vs. Vienot at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Yet, the fight against Ruotolo might be just one of two of Tonon’s returns. Tonon further told ONE Championship that he might just come back to his musical roots and make a career out of his talents outside the fighting arts.

“I have even thought about possibly making music at some point. It’s just the amount of time necessary to do something that’s really worth putting out there, something that you’re going to sell… But if I’m going to sell something, I take a lot of pride in the things that I do. I don’t like just half-assing, so whatever it is would have to be really good, you know?”

Watch Tonon show off his musical side below: