Garry Tonon wants another shot at the ONE Featherweight World Title and a shot at one of the best fighters in the history of ONE Championship. “The Lion Killer” picked up his eighth MMA win last weekend at ONE Fight Night 12, ending Shamil Gasanov’s undefeated streak with a nasty kneebar. The hard-earned victory also earned him a US $50,000 performance bonus.
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Following the win, he expressed his desire to challenge for the featherweight crown again while also recognizing that he may need to fight other contenders first to truly prove himself.
Garry Tonon wants to reverse his failed attempt at bagging the ONE Featherweight gold
“Yeah, man. Of course, I want to fight for the championship,” he told ONE Championship in a post-fight interview. “I want to fight all the toughest guys in the division. So you know what, whatever, that whenever I can get that championship fight, I want to take it. But at the end of the day, like all of these guys that are like you said, This division is getting tougher and tougher. Shamil was one of those guys. You know, it’s a total wildcard.”
The multiple-time BJJ World Champion has been a menace in the stacked featherweight division. He earned an opportunity to challenge for the World Title last year, against then-titleholder Thanh Le, after collecting six straight wins in the promotion.
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He wasn’t able to come home with the gold on that occasion, but he’s undeniably gaining momentum, with two wins in a row in the bag. It may not be long before he’s challenging the top once again. But the featherweight strap is not the only thing on the 31-year-old’s radar. Tonon also revealed that he wants to move up to try to take over a second division.
Garry Tonon has one more target that he wants to accomplish soon
And he already has his next opponent in mind – former two-division World Champion Martin Nguyen. While he offered no timetable for their potential matchup, “The Lion Killer” made it clear that he wants to mix it up with Nguyen with or without a belt on the line. “I want that Martin Nguyen fight at some point. But man, the order doesn’t matter so much.”
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“So let’s get another shot at that championship. And then let’s knock these pins down in this division, and then let’s go fight for a championship in the weight class up. I love to do with Martin Nguyen style and win two divisions in this in this organization that’d be great,” he said.