Garry Tonon, a contender for the number two spot in the ONE featherweight division, feels that Shamil Gasanov will experience a sense of urgency to escape once Tonon grabs hold of one of Gasanov’s limbs.
This coming Friday, on ONE Fight Night 12: Superlek vs. Khalilov, which will be streamed on Prime Video, two of the best featherweight fighters in the world will square off in a fight that might determine who gets a shot at the world title at 155 pounds next.
In terms of his qualifications, the unbeaten Gasanov does have the Dagestani wrestling chops to compete with Tonon’s flawless record in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. However, Gasanov has yet to win a match. At least according to the documentation.
As far as ‘The Lion Killer’ is concerned, the calm and collected Russian will do everything in his power to find a way out of having to hand up his evidence.
“[Gasanov is] only more cautious in situations where he feels like there’s a potential for him to get submitted,” Tonon said in an interview with ONE Championship.”So what I mean by that is, if we get into an exchange and I get a hold of an arm or a leg or a neck, I expect him to maybe be more frantic than he would be in a situation where he is fighting somebody where he doesn’t respect their grappling as much,” the speaker said.
To tell you the truth, no one would fault ‘The Cobra’ if he put on an insane display of resistance simply to escape out of one of Tonon’s trademark submission holds.
As a matter of fact, the American is a smart grappler who is also known as one of the most terrifying submission hunters in the game. This is demonstrated by the devastation he caused in the BJJ world.
Tonon made the successful transition to mixed martial arts (MMA) by utilizing his immaculate grappling mastery; four of his seven career wins came via submission.
Gasanov, for his part, gave the impression of complete lack of fear when he competed in his first ONE Championship bout the previous year against Kim Jae Woong. On the other hand, he was competing against a striker who possessed an unproven ground game.
It won’t be long before we find out if the Dagestani star can make it through Tonon’s much-touted submission game.
On July 14, the ONE Fight Night 12 event will be broadcast live from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok. Prime Video subscribers in North America have unrestricted access to the entirety of this card at no additional cost.
