Image Credits: Garry Tonon Instagram
Garry Tonon tapped out previously undefeated Shamil Gasanov with a Kneebar, in their ONE Fight Night 12 match.
As he shared in an interview for ONE Championship, Tonon is more than proud of his achievement:
You know, it’s a tough thing for people to fight somebody that’s undefeated, that came from somewhere else only had one fight in this organization.
You have to take a guess at how good the guy is because he only fought against one of the toughest guys in the world.
He knew that Gasanov is a dangerous opponent, so he prepared accordingly:
I highly respected Shamil’s grappling game, and I very much saw situations that were definitely going to occur in this fight where he could be in top positions.
And, you know, I would have to do some defensive work to get out, and that’s certainly what happened.
So I’m glad that we did that in our preparations.
And, even though he suffered a number of knee strikes to the head early in the opening round, Tonon managed to get out of that mess…
Emerging triumphant in the end:
To be able to struggle through a difficult situation and then come back, to be able to build that sense, to be able to have that faith in yourself that you’re going to be able to overcome the obstacle even when things don’t go great…
It’s a big part of mixed martial arts, and it’s a big part of why I got involved.
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, and still come out like I wanted.
It meant a lot to me, you know?It speaks to my character, I think, and I proved that to myself if I didn’t already know it.
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