“I was expecting a different fight” – Garry Tonon surprised by his early submission victory over Martin Nguyen

American featherweight fighter Garry Tonon envisioned a win in his recent fight against former double ONE world champion Martin Nguyen. He admitted though that he did not expect it would come early in the contest.

‘The Lion Killer’ took on ‘The Situ-Asian’ at ONE 165: Superlek vs. Takeru on January 28 in Japan in a featured featherweight MMA clash between contenders. The former came away the winner by way of submission (rear-naked choke) late in the opening round.

While happy to get the victory, 32-year-old Tonon said he was surprised how the end came earlier than what he was expecting. He told Sportskeeda MMA post-fight that he saw Nguyen making him labor for an extended time first. Such, however, did not happen.

The New Jersey native said:

“I am feeling so good it's a little surreal. I still haven't fully taken in the moment. I'm just ecstatic and I'm trying to let my feelings catch up to me, man. It wasn't what I was expecting. I was expecting a different fight.”

“I was expecting, you know, I was talking to myself the entire time leading up to the fight, talking myself about how I was going to probably have to take damage, this was going to be a really tough fight, and, you know, I was probably going to have to come back from adversity and all these things.”

Garry Tonon went on to say that he would not mind having future fights go that way, saying:

“And when I went out there, you know, took his back and strangled him fairly quickly, you know. By the end of the round and, you know, I hope every fight goes that way, but, you know, I know Martin's a hell of a fighter. I was prepared to go to war with that guy so yeah it's different than what I expected but I'm very happy that it went this way.”

Watch the interview below:

The victory was the third straight for Garry Tonon, who is the top contender in the featherweight division. He is hoping that it would earn him another world title shot at some point in the future.

Garry Tonon earns $50,000 performance bonus with submission win over Martin Nguyen

The quick submission win fashioned out by Garry Tonon at ONE 165 earned him a $50,000 performance bonus from ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong. He was one of six fighters rewarded on fight night.

The American fighter made short work of former two-sport ONE world champion Martin Nguyen in their featherweight MMA clash in Japan, employing a rear-naked choke late in the opening round that ‘The Situ-Asian’ simply had no answer for.

‘The Lion Killer’ actually started the string of $50,000 bonus-winning performances at ONE 165, with five more fighters rewarded with the incentive after.

After Garry Tonon, Armenian kickboxer Marat Grigorian was rewarded for his third-round KO of Thai Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong.

Following suit were veteran fighters Nieky Holzken and Shinya Aoki for their opening-round wins over Yoshihiro Akiyama and John Lineker, respectively.

ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo also earned one after his successful defense by decision over Tommy Langaker.

The final $50,000 performance bonus winner was Superlek Kiatmoo9, who defended the ONE flyweight kickboxing world title against Takeru Segawa by unanimous decision in a banger of a headlining fight.