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In the co-main event of ONE Fight Night 12 last Friday, BJJ icon and former ONE featherweight world title challenger Garry Tonon proved once again why he is considered one of the best when the fight hits the ground.
Against previously undefeated Dagestani submission artist Shamil 'The Cobra' Gasanov, 'The Lion Killer' pulled off one of the nastiest knee bars ever in MMA.
The bout was an intense grappling chess match while it lasted, with both Gasanov and Tonon finding success in various dominant positions. In the end, after the back-and-forth battle, Garry Tonon's legendary leg-lock skill allowed him to slickly entangle Gasanov for the excruciating joint lock:
"Garry Tonon 🇺🇸 hands Shamil Gasanov his first pro MMA loss with a nasty kneebar! 😬 @garrytonon"
Gasanov is just one of the many Dagestani fighters to find tremendous success in MMA due to their near-perfect utilization of powerful wrestling, unstoppable aggression, and constricting submissions.
Fighters like Gasanov, UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, ONE lightweight prospect Saygid Izagahkmaev, and former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov have been nearly untouchable in their respective careers because of this.
To Garry Tonon, however, the Dagestani form of fighting may not be as hard to deal with anymore. In an interview with the South China Morning Post, 'The Lion Killer' proclaimed that he may have discovered the Kyrptonite of these Russian supermen:
"I think the other thing that was really impressive and important to watch was, you know, I think it's been a big question mark how to deal with some of these Russian Dagestani wrestling type fighters and you know, hell, it was for sure. An amazing and incredible style and I had a really tough time with it, but you know, I think the recipe there is you got to submit these guys got to have those good breaking mechanics got to be you know, as they're trying to wrestle you and grapple you got to be able to get them back man."
Watch the full interview here:
After seeing what Garry Tonon did to Gasanov, we can say that there is a lot of truth to what he said.
It may be a foregone conclusion at this point that you cannot out-wrestle a Dagestani. If you look at history, the likes of Royce Gracie, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir have used jiu jitsu to submit strong wrestlers. Perhaps the pliancy of jiu jitsu will become the key to nullify Dagestan's unstoppable wrestling. 'The Lion Killer' is on to something here.
Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North America can catch all the action at ONE Fight Night 12 on replay and for free.
