ONE Championship: rough loss to Le was turning point for me, says Tonon, ahead of Nguyen bout
- Garry Tonon was on a six-fight winning streak until he came up against Thanh Le in 2022
- Beaten in the opening minute of a title eliminator, the American says that was important moment in his career
Garry Tonon won his first six MMA fights fairly comfortably, making the transition from Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) look easy and appeared to be on course for a ONE Championship title shot in the featherweight division.
That all changed when he came up against Thanh Le in a 2022 title eliminator. He was stopped by strikes inside the opening minute and, for a fighter who was more accustomed to the gentle art of BJJ than the raw violence of striking based combat sport, it was a rude awakening.
Tonon went on to submit his next two opponents, earning a shot at former lightweight and featherweight champion Martin Nguyen at ONE 165 on Sunday, but the American believes his loss to Le was a turning point in his career.
“It’s the hard moments that make you reconsider,” he told the Post in an exclusive interview. “A lot of people watch videos of knockouts and they imagine themselves being the one that’s doing the knocking out. We don’t want to imagine we are going to be the ones on the receiving end. When you finally are it can really change things.”
While injuries do occur during BJJ matches, most of the time both participants will emerge completely unscathed. It allows them to compete multiple times in a single day if necessary, but MMA is very different.
When fists, feet, knees and elbows are flying, damage is almost inevitable. Taking serious damage for the first time during the fight with Le actually made Tonon realise he was totally committed to this new career path.