Garry Tonon Gunning For Second Chance At ONE Featherweight World Title

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Bangkok, July 19: It's safe to say that Garry Tonon faced a lot of adversity last year. Back-to-back defeats led the American talent to regroup and refocus, and after a successful start to 2023, Tonon is back riding high.

"The Lion Killer" sculpted his second consecutive victory in the featherweight division this past Saturday, 15 July, at ONE Fight Night 12, becoming the first man to defeat Shamil Gasanov.

The bout showcased a great grappling spectacle between #2-ranked Tonon and #5-ranked Gasanov, who both brought a litany of submission skills into the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

And after finding himself on the defensive in the opening frame, Tonon's patience paid off in the second stanza as he secured a kneebar that ultimately forced Gasanov to tap for the first time in his career.

The win saw "The Lion Killer" put back-to-back wins together for the first time in three years, and he feels that overcoming "The Cobra's" pounces in the first round worked wonders for his resurging confidence.

"I'm very happy with myself. [I was] able to struggle through a difficult situation and then come back. [I had] that faith in [myself] that [I was] going to be able to overcome the obstacle even when things don't go great," Tonon said.

"It felt really good to me to have a tough time in the first round, and then come out swinging in the second round and still be aggressive like I wanted to win that fight. So it meant a lot to me. It speaks to my character, I think, and it proved that to myself, if I didn't already know it."

ONE Fight Night 12's performance cemented Tonon as the #2-ranked contender in the featherweight realm behind top-ranked Thanh Le. And with that, World Title hopes loom large for the American.

Tonon fell short in his first ONE Featherweight World Championship challenge against then-king Le at ONE: LIGHTS OUT in March 2022. Now he hopes to reconcile the division's gold and then some.

With two-weight stardom weighing heavily on "The Lion Killer's" mind, the grappling ace also has his eye set on former ONE Featherweight and Lightweight World Champion Martin "The Situ-Asian" Nguyen.

"Of course I want to fight for the championship. I want to fight all the toughest guys in the division. Whenever I can get that championship fight, I want to take it. This division is getting tougher and tougher. Shamil was one of those guys. It's a total wildcard," Tonon said.

"I want to fight Martin Nguyen at some point. Let's knock these pins down in this division, and then let's go fight for a championship in the weight class up (above). I'd love to do it in Martin Nguyen-style and win in two divisions in this organization, that'd be great."