Garry Tonon warns his opponents they have significantly inferior grappling skills

Garry Tonon suggests that he normally doesn’t have to bother about the defensive part of his grappling after his come-from-behind win over Shamil Gasanov at ONE Fight Night 12 last Friday, July 14.

The former featherweight world title challenger always trusts his Brazilian jiu-jitsu to rack up damage on any foe. However, that mindset changed when he took on the Dagestani phenom inside the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

True enough, Gasanov’s freestyle wrestling base was a huge barrier for the American BJJ expert for large portions of the opening round. Besides, the Russian’s intelligence to mix up his striking on the canvas nearly threatened to leave ‘The Lion Killer’ staring at defeat.

That rhythm changed in round two, as the Evolve MMA and Team Renzo Gracie athlete mounted his way to victory via a kneebar at 2:26 of the stanza.

During a post-fight interview with ONE Championship, ‘The Lion Killer’ took a subtle dig at the rest of the featherweight contenders, suggesting their work on the canvas is nothing but a walk in the park for him.

Garry Tonon said:

“Normally, I don't spend as much time on the defensive side of things with those things for my fights because most of the guys that I fight have significantly worse grappling than myself.”

The American martial artist hopes to challenge for the featherweight gold next after dishing out a second consecutive finish on the global stage of the promotion.

However, if he doesn’t get a chance to compete for the world title, Garry Tonon will be happy to continue grinding out results on the canvas to earn his spot as a worthy challenger.

ONE Fight Night 12 is available via replay for North American fans on Amazon Prime Video.