Garry Tonon says he predicted playing defensive grappling against Shamil Gasanov

Former ONE featherweight world title challenger ‘The Lion Killer’ Garry Tonon is fresh off a resounding submission victory over highly regarded Russian ‘The Cobra’ Shamil Gasanov at ONE Fight Night 12 last week.

The 31-year-old John Danaher prodigy and current No.2-ranked featherweight MMA contender scored a come-from-behind victory over Gasanov, winning by slick kneebar in the second round of their contest in Bangkok on Friday.

Following the fight, Tonon revealed that although he was confident he would get the victory over ‘The Cobra’, he was also weary about Gasanov’s Russian wrestling, which prompted him to spend extra time in training his defensive grappling skills.

In a post-fight interview with ONE Championship, Tonon talked about how he prepared specifically for this matchup.

‘The Lion Killer’ said:

“You know [I worked on my defensive game because] I knew I would have to do some defensive work to get out and that's certainly what happened in this fight. So I'm glad that we did that in our preparations.”

Tonon would get the better of Gasanov, with the action playing out just as he had imagined. ‘The Cobra’ was able to gain advantageous position, where ‘The Lion Killer’ was forced to play defense in order to reverse position. In the end, Tonon’s vaunted BJJ took over and forced the tap.

ONE Fight Night 12: Superlek vs. Khalilov on Prime Video took place last Friday night, July 14, from the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. Fans in the United States and Canada can rewatch all the action of this stacked card via replay on Amazon Prime Video.