Garry Tonon says more people are watching submission grappling because of ONE Championship

Brazilian jiu-jitsu phenom and now ONE Championship featherweight mixed martial artist ‘The Lion Killer’ Garry Tonon of the United States is one of the most talented fighters in the world. Coming from the world of submission grappling, Tonon transitioned to the sport of MMA in 2018, making his MMA debut in ONE Championship.

Since then, however, ONE has made strides to include pure submission grappling bouts in their live events, even crowning two world champions in ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion ‘Darth Rigatoni’ Mikey Musumeci and ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo.

Tonon has been witness to the rise of submission grappling in ONE Championship, and the American says it’s a step in the right direction.

Speaking to the promotion in a recent interview, Tonon talked about why submission grappling in ONE is a good thing for the sport.

‘The Lion Killer’ said:

“Now it's just like any other sport where people that don't even participate are interested in watching. They think it's exciting and cool. And ONE Championship is doing a great job bringing that out and showing that to people and helping us gather fans for grappling. And that's really cool, man. It's really exciting.”

Tonon has since put his submission grappling career on the back burner, however, and is now focused on his budding MMA career.

The no.2-ranked featherweight MMA contender ‘The Lion Killer’ Garry Tonon is scheduled to face no.5-ranked ‘The Cobra’ Shamil Gasanov at ONE Fight Night 12: Superlek vs. Khalilov on Prime Video.

The event broadcasts live from the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday, July 14. Fans in the United States and Canada can catch all the action live and absolutely free on Amazon Prime Video.