Garry Tonon is known for thriving in chaos on the competition mats, but one of the wildest moments of his career had nothing to do with a tournament.

While cornering a teammate in South Korea years ago, Tonon found himself in a volatile street situation that he only felt comfortable discussing long after the fact due to possible legal issues.

On his podcast, he explained that the night began as a casual outing with teammate Yuting Hong, hopping between bars and awkwardly communicating through Google Translate…

However, Tonon quickly clocked an intoxicated local who seemed to be causing problems everywhere he went and mentally flagged him as someone to avoid.
But that plan didn’t last long.

When the group decided to leave, the drunk man slammed into Tonon and one of the women walking with them:

I just react and I’m just like, oh wow, what the f*ck.

 The man flew into a rage and began screaming inches from Tonon’s face.

Things took a dark turn when the aggressor struck the woman who was yelling at him:

As soon as I see that this is gonna happen, I already raised my hand and I smack him almost simultaneously.

The man rushed forward recklessly, allowing Tonon to sweep him off his feet with a de ashi harai.

Almost immediately, another attacker grabbed Tonon from behind, forcing him down, before Tonon swept him as well.
Hong restrained a third person against a parked car as the chaos unfolded.

When Tonon saw the original attacker yanking the woman by her hair, his instincts reacted:

My brain goes no, you can’t do that…

If you bring it to this level and you [harm] this guy’s head, you’re going to prison for sure.

So he opted for a choke rather than a strike.
He released it when more people approached, recognizing the danger of being tied up with multiple threats nearby.

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