ONE Championship: Garry Tonon reveals Koyomi Matsushima fight in potential No 1 contender showdown
- ‘The Lion Killer’ confirms next opponent is No 2-ranked featherweight and former title challenger Matsushima of Japan – ‘this is my next step up’
- No 5 Tonon expects Thanh Le to give champ Martin Nguyen ‘a really tough fight’ at Inside The Matrix – and wants to face the winner
Garry Tonon has told SCMP MMA he will fight Koyomi Matsushima in a bout that could potentially decide the next challenger for the ONE Championship featherweight title.
Martin Nguyen (13-3) defends the belt against No 3-ranked Thanh Le (11-2) at Inside The Matrix on October 30 in Singapore, but grappling sensation Tonon (5-0) or former challenger Matsushima (12-4) will seemingly be next in line for the winner. “The Situ-Asian” retained his belt with a second-round TKO of the No 2-ranked Japanese fighter in Manila in August 2019.
The 29-year-old American “Lion Killer” – ranked fifth – revealed he had been given a fight date of November 20 in Singapore, where the Asian martial arts organisation has set up shop with a Covid-19 “bubble” in its home city.
“He’s [Matsushima] definitely a contender, for sure,” Tonon told SCMP MMA. “He’s one of the tougher guys up there. He gave Martin quite a good run for his money. Early on in the fight he was giving Martin a really tough time. It just goes to show he’s a tough guy. It also shows a lot about Martin.
“Kudos to him for getting that one. I guess this is my next step up, I gotta be able to beat the guy that challenged Martin for the title and maybe we’ll see me fighting for the title soon.”
Tonon recently teased fans on social media he would be fighting an opponent who is 12-0, asking them to guess his identity. That match-up fell through, but Tonon revealed it was Ruslan Emilbek, on what would’ve been the Kyrgyzstani’s ONE debut.