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Garry Tonon: There is way more pressure than if I had just started the way most people do in mixed martial arts

Garry Tonon: There is way more pressure than if I had just started the way most people do in mixed martial arts

Garry Tonon is fresh off his latest victory at ONE and while the grappling community is thrilled with the success several questions loom above the Rahul Raju victory – most notably did Garry or did he not successfully heel hook Raju.

As he faces online hecklers and debate Tonon gave one of the most revealing interviews regarding his mma career saying:

“Even though it’s my first few fights, and I’ve never fought at amateur, if I get knocked out people are going to talk about it…a lot. There is way more pressure than if I had just started the way most people do in mixed martial arts.”

“That’s just the world we live in now with social media. Everything that people would normally say behind your back is public where everyone can see it. Not only do people feel comfortable doing that on their own social media channels, they’ll jump on one of my posts and say terrible things,” he explained.

“To be honest, I have fun with that kind of stuff. It’s all a bit of a game to me. I grew up in that era so I’m used to it. People saying negative things about me has never been a huge problem for me in my life. I got bullied a bit in school, but I always stood up for myself and had fun with it. I’m way more likely to turn something into a joke than take it seriously.” Tonon told mmafighting.

Additionally there was pressure – Tonon notably striked his way through the first match-up so how come he was trying to leglock now?

“After my debut people were like, ‘Did you forget how to do jiu-jitsu?’ After my last fight they said, ‘You might have got the submission, but your striking looked pretty sh*tty’ — you can’t win. I see posts from Georges St-Pierre, the greatest fighter of all time, and he’s putting up with the same stuff. It’s hard to take it seriously when you see a guy who has had a career like his getting the same treatment.”