Jiu-jitsu star Garry Tonon went to Japan for ONE 165, looking to earn a third straight submission win over former two-weight champion Martin Nguyen.
Tonon took his BJJ black belt and used it as his base to begin the transition to MMA in 2018, earning a ONE featherweight MMA title shot by 2022 with a 6-0 record. He lost that bout to then-champion Thanh Le, but has gone on to win his next two, including a kneebar over undefetead Dagestani prospect Shamil Gasanov last year. As for Nguyen, after losing his featherweight title to Le in 2020 he has fell twice by knockout, going 2-2 since then. The former double champ is nearing the final stretch of his career at age 34, but two recent wins shows he has something left in the tank. Both men tried to claw their way back towards the belt, but Tonon clawed so fiercely that he tore through Nguyen in under a round.
It did not take long for Garry Tonon to ground the fight; he took down Nguyen and was in full mount inside of forty-five seconds. As Nguyen tried to escape, Tonon easily flowed with the position and transitioned to the back, locking in the body triangle. Martin could do naught but defend, which he did successfully for four minutes. Yet the writing was always on the wall, and with twenty seconds left in the first round the grappling champion forced the tap with his letha rear-naked choke, defending his number one contender spot.
After that impressive win, his third in a row by finish, Tonon has surely earned another title shot. Champion Tang Kai will unify the belts in a rematch against interim belt-holder Thanh Le, who Kai took the undisputed belt from originally. He will target a bout against the winner of that fight, but he stated in his post-fight interview his desire for it to be against Le, so he can claim his revenge.
Garry closed out his interview with a bit of fun, saying ‘I’m mmediately buying a Japanese toilet when I get home,” and thanking the Japanese fans for their hospitality.
Official Result: Garry Tonon def. Martin Nguyen by Submission (rear-naked choke) Round 1, 4:41
