Garry Tonon wanted to prove One Championship is ‘no joke’ against UFC’s Dustin Poirier

Jiu-jitsu sensation Garry Tonon has certainly been making a name for himself in MMA as a featherweight with One Championship, going 5-0 – all finishes – in the space of just 14 months.

But it was in another match on the mats, rather than the cage, that the American was hoping to prove himself.

A member of the “Danaher Death Squad” under coach John Danaher at Renzo Gracie Academy, black belt Tonon was set to grapple former UFC interim lightweight champion Poirier last month in Miami. But the charity contest was cancelled after Tonon sustained a cut above his right eye during training.

“Yeah it sucks, it was a good promotional opportunity for me to have that,” Tonon told the Post. “I also love grappling in general. Also, being able to intermingle with UFC fighters and prove myself is nice.

“There’s always guys that are doubters. For me, I think the DJ [Demetrious Johnson] and Eddie [Alvarez] experiment has proved how tough One Championship fighters are. Eddie lost one and DJ has had tougher fights in One in my opinion than he ever had in UFC, maybe with the exception of Henry Cejudo. But other than that he’s having really challenging fights. He’s winning, but not easily.

“It’s been pretty proven that guys from One are no joke. But there’s always those guys out there that chat s*** about that stuff. So it’s nice to mix with UFC guys and show that I’m just as tough as these guys if not tougher.”

The 28-year-old Tonon grappled Davi Ramos at Fight 2 Win in Hawaii last November, coming close to submitting the UFC lightweight at the end of the match by rear naked choke before getting the decision.

“I wanted to do similar with Poirier but got cut,” Tonon said. “I take cuts above the eye seriously because of MMA. It’s not like, ‘Just throw some superglue on it and you’re good, bro’. In MMA you build up scar tissue, it’s easier to open up.

“If it reopens in all your fights, I can lose a fight because I’m bleeding too much. Nobody wants that, dude. It’s gotta be one of the most tough experiences to lose a fight because you’re bleeding. I’ve never had it happen. Once in jiu-jitsu, but every time it happens on TV I’m like, ‘Damn, that must suck’.”

Tonon got cut underneath his eye during his third MMA fight against Lee Sung-jong at One Championship: Heart of the Lion in March 2018, where he won by guillotine choke at 2:04 of the second round.

“Asian organisations are a little more tentative about bleeding, they stop flights earlier because the audience don’t wanna see blood,” he said.

“So after he reopened the cut, I was like, ‘I gotta submit this guy’, and I rushed real quick to submit him. I didn’t wanna lose.”

While the disappointment of missing out on the chance to grapple Poirier still hurts, Tonon said he didn’t want to take any chances with his next One fight set for April 17 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, having been out of the Circle since May 2019.

“You try to take care of it, so I called it off and it healed up,” he said. Within 10 days I started sparring again. It’s holding up well. I got kneed in the face during grappling today and it didn’t reopen so that’s a good sign. Shows the skin is holding up well.

“I don’t think it’ll be a problem for the fight. I’m pretty confident that it healed up well. I did the best I could to manage it, but everybody gets cut.”