Garry Lee Tonon (born September 12, 1991) is an American submission grappler and mixed martial artist. He is a five-time Eddie Bravo Invitational champion, and has won titles at ADCC submission wrestling championship, IBJJF World and Pan American championships.[1]
He is known for his use of leglocks in submission-only grappling matches, and is a former member of the "Danaher Death Squad," a grappling team that was led by John Danaher at Renzo Gracie Academy.[4][5]
While he still maintains a consistent submission grappling training schedule, since his debut in early 2018 Tonon has focused primarily on training and competing in professional mixed martial arts competition.[6] He is an active fighter for the Singapore-based mixed martial arts promotion ONE Championship.[7] He officially signed with the organization in October 2017.[8] As of October 12, 2023, he is ranked #1 in the ONE Featherweight rankings.[9]
As a child, Tonon was identified as having ADHD by his mother, an employee of a non-profit organization for children with special needs.[2] Tonon had his first introduction to grappling when he joined the wrestling team at his school in 5th grade. Tonon continued to wrestle for several more years, through his freshman year of high school. Tonon has credited wrestling & martial arts with helping him to cope with his ADHD, and partially attributes his particular style of grappling to the disorder.[11] Tonon would also be later diagnosed with alopecia areata, a non-life threatening condition in which hair is lost from some or all areas of the body.[12] He attended Lacey Township High School in Lacey Township, New Jersey, where he later graduated in 2009.[13]
At age 14, a friend decided to bring Tonon to a local jiu-jitsu tournament, which interested Tonon. He soon began taking classes at his friend's jiu-jitsu academy, but lost interest after several months due to the school's focus on mixed martial arts, as opposed to jiu-jitsu. Shortly after leaving that school, Tonon found an advertisement for Tom DeBlass' academy, Ocean County Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and decided to continue his training there. While still attending high school, Tonon would consistently attend two classes per day at DeBlass' academy. DeBlass, noticing Tonon's interest in the sport, began bringing Tonon to Ricardo Almeida's academy for additional training.[1]
Grappling career
In 2008, after about a year of consistent jiu-jitsu training with DeBlass and Almeida, Tonon won his first title at the IBJJF World Championships in the Blue Belt Juvenile Division.[14] After graduating high school in 2009, Tonon began pursuing a degree in exercise science at Rutgers University.[15] While studying at Rutgers, Tonon maintained a rigorous training schedule and continued to compete in both local and international competitions, mostly competing in the gi for the first 5 years of his training, but later beginning to seek out more specialized, no-gi instruction from John Danaher. He was awarded his black belt by Tom DeBlass and Ricardo Almeida in September 2013.[16] One month later, Tonon went on to compete for the first time in the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship in Beijing, China, where he had matches with Kron Gracie, Marcus Almeida, Roberto "Cyborg" Abreu, and Satoru Kitaoka.[17][18]
Tonon was booked to compete against Tye Ruotolo at ONE 157 on May 20, 2022 in a submission grappling match.[24] Tonon was submitted with a D'arce choke and lost the match.[25]
As a former medallist, Tonon was invited to compete at the 2022 ADCC World Championship.[26] Prior to the event, Tonon decided to move down in weight to the under 66 kg division.[27] He lost on points to Sam McNally in the opening round and was eliminated from the tournament.[28]
Mixed martial arts career
ONE Championship
In March 2018, Tonon made his professional mixed martial arts debut against Richard Corminal at ONE Championship: Iron Will, in Bangkok, Thailand.[29] Tonon won the fight via TKO in the second round.[30] Tonon had his second professional fight against Rahul Raju at ONE Championship: Reign of Kings on July 27, 2018. Tonon won the fight via rear naked choke in the third round. In November 2018, Tonon went on to fight Sung Jong Lee at ONE Championship: Heart of the Lion. Tonon won via guillotine choke in the second round.
On March 31, 2019, Tonon continued his winning streak and fought Anthony Engelen at ONE Championship: A New Era. Tonon won via TKO in the first round.[31] In May, Tonon faced Yoshiki Nakahara at ONE Championship: Enter the Dragon[32] He won the fight via a heel hook submission in the first round.
Garry Tonon was scheduled to face Koyomi Matsushima at ONE Championship: Inside the Matrix 4 on November 20, 2020.[33] The bout was subsequently rescheduled for ONE Championship: Big Bang on December 4, 2020[34] and it was confirmed that he would have to compete without his coach, John Danaher, in his corner for the first time due to travel restrictions in place in Singapore.[35] Tonon was unable to finish as Matsushima defended his submissions, but secured the unanimous decision victory to earn the first decision win of his mixed martial arts career.[36]
Tonon was scheduled to face reigning champion Thanh Le for the ONE Featherweight Championship at ONE: X on December 5, 2021.[37] In late October 2021, the promotion announced that the event was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[38] His title fight with Le was rebooked for ONE: Lights Out on March 11, 2022.[39] While attempting a heel hook, Tonon was caught by a hammer fist and lost by first-round knockout, handing him his first career MMA loss.[40]
Tonon faced Johnny Nuñez on January 14, 2023, at ONE Fight Night 6.[41] He won the fight via a kimura submission in the first round.[42][43]
Tonon faced Shamil Gasanov on July 15, 2023, at ONE Fight Night 12.[44] He submitted Gasanov with a kneebar in the second round and earned a Performance of the Night bonus.[45]
Tonon faced Martin Nguyen on January 28, 2024, at ONE 165.[46] He won the match by submission in the first round and earned a $50,000 'Performance of the Night' bonus.[47][48]
^ONE Championship refers to their 155 lb division as Featherweight, but per the Association of Boxing Commissions in the United States, 155 lbs is considered Lightweight.
^ONE Championship refers to their 170 lb division as Lightweight, but per the Association of Boxing Commissions in the United States, 170 lbs is considered Welterweight.
