Garry Tonon has made great efforts to prepare for Thanh Le’s striking. The American BJJ black belt will challenge Le for the ONE Championship featherweight title in the main event of Friday’s Lights Out card in Singapore. While he will have a significant advantage if the fight hits the mats, he will be at great risk as long as he is standing with the Vietnamese-Australian champion. “He’s probably the most intelligently put together fighter in the division in terms of his precision and the way he is trying to set things up,” the 30-year-0ld grappler said. “This is a person who I believe is very calculated and sharp.” Le’s world-class striking – which is bolstered by fight-altering knockout power – makes him a difficult foe to prepare for. In an effort to ready himself for the task at hand, Tonon brought in a number of notable training partners, including UFC featherweight Andre Fili. “Andre Fili has come down a few times,” he said. “[He’s] a very talented striker in the UFC – not a particularly similar style to Thanh, but a very articulate, intelligent fighter who’s been able to help me here and there.” Tonon also got in some sparring with kick-boxing specialist Raymond Daniels – though he admits those rounds were a painful experience. “I even got an opportunity to spar once with Raymond Daniels,” he said. “I got a nice spinning kick to the liver during sparring. Some sparring sessions are better than others.” None of Tonon’s sparring partners have been able to perfectly emulate Le, but after a long and fruitful camp, the grappler will step into the cage this Friday with new-found confidence in his striking game. Yamaguchi trains with Sakuraba, Imanari for ONE Championship grappling match “I’ve had an opportunity to bring some people down that bring that in and out, darting kind of style, which is cool,” he said. “It’s never quite a perfect replication of the person you’re going to fight, but we did our best.” “I’m really happy with it,” Tonon added. “I feel about as confident as I’ve ever felt in my striking.” Tonon previously predicted he would beat Le by submission in the second round. He still believes that is possible, but is now leaning toward a victory a little later in the fight. One way or the other, he plans to leave the cage with belt wrapped round his waist. “The times that I’ve seen Thanh struggle for a round, he has been able to come back immediately the next round,” Tonon said. “So I don’t see this being a situation where I dominate him for a round and then he is just gassed and doesn’t have anything left for me. “Talking about round three, four, a little bit later, might be a more accurate prediction than round two, unless I surprise him with something to get through the defence and get to the submission.”