Thanh Le anticipates a ‘fun’ war between grapplers Garry Tonon and Shamil Gasanov

Former ONE featherweight world champion Thanh Le expects Friday night’s clash between undefeated Russian prospect Shamil Gasanov and BJJ superstar Garry Tonon to deliver an entertaining war.

The two featherweight contenders will square off inside the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium at ONE Fight Night 12 on Prime Video. Headlined by a highly anticipated Muay Thai battle between Superlek Kiatmoo9 and Tagir Khalilov, fans watching around the world will first be treated to a showdown between two submission specialists vying for an opportunity at 26 pounds of ONE Championship gold.

After coming up short in his lone world title bid against Thanh Le in March 2022, Garry Tonon is banking on an impressive win over Shamil Gasanov to get him back within reach of the featherweight crown.

Sharing his thoughts on the matchup, Thanh Le expects a fun battle between two of the best grapplers in the sport today.

“Towards the later part of the fight, I think we’ll wind up getting into the ground and in watching these guys in action,” Le told ONE Championship in a recent interview. “It’s going to be a really fun one, man.”

Shamil Gasanov goes into the bout boasting an impressive 13-0 record, including a first-round submission victory over former top-five contender Kim Jae Woong at ONE on Prime Video 3. Already sitting comfortably as the No. 5 ranked contender, ‘’The Cobra’ could potentially jump the line and find himself knocking on the door of contendership with a win over ‘The Lion Killer’ this Friday night.

Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North America can catch all the action at ONE Fight Night 12 live and for free in U.S. primetime on July 14.