Garry Tonon made his long-awaited return to the circle at ONE Fight Night 6 on Prime Video on Friday night. Making his first appearance since coming up short against Thanh Le in March, Tonon looked to get back on the winning track against Johnny Nunez. Making his sophomore appearance for ONE Championship, Nunez was eager to get his first win under the bright lights of Impact Arena in Bangkok.
Both fighters came out fast and furious with Nunez looking for a flying knee right out of the gate. After a quick opening exchange, the two fighters clinched against the fence, jockeying for position. Pressed against the fence, Tonon grabbed Nunez’s arm, threatening a kimura. The threat allowed ‘The Lion Killer’ to secure a takedown of his own.
Never letting go of the kimura, Garry Tonon was able to cinch in the hold once on the ground, giving Nunez no choice but to tap out less than two minutes into the very first round of the contest.
With the victory, Garry Tonon moved to 7-1 in his professional MMA career. Sitting as the No. 2 ranked featherweight, Tonon hopes he is in the conversation for another world title opportunity. He also expressed a desire to be part of the promotion’s United States debut on May 5.
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Official Result: Garry Tonon submits Johnny Nunez via submission (kimura) at 1:53 of Round 1
Garry Tonon hopes to be included at ONE Fight Night 10 in Colorado.
Following his impressive first-round submission victory over Johnny Nunez at ONE Fight Night 6, ‘The Lion Killer’ spoke with Mitch Chilson inside the circle to discuss his return to the win column.
“This body is America. Strong. Strong, violent. Full of limitless potential. I am perfection. I am domination. I am the future. The future starts tonight.”
"My arms will hold them down when they struggle. My legs will run them down when they flee. I am the U.S. steel of domination.”
When asked about what comes next, Garry Tonon had two very big priorities, the first getting another opportunity at the ONE featherweight world championship. The other is to feature on ONE Championship’s debut in the United States later this year:
“We're getting another shot at the title soon. I mean, I thought was pretty dominant performance. Whoever is going to be there when it's time to fight, that would be great. But if not, I would love to be on that US card. Me, Martin Nguyen we’re both fighting and training in America. All right, fighting on that Denver card that would be sick.