Garry Tonon breathes sigh of relief in superb finish of Shamil Gasanov: “Thank God for submissions”

Garry Tonon knew that his otherworldly Brazilian jiu-jitsu was always going to be his biggest weapon in mixed martial arts.

The American BJJ legend was on the receiving end of some gnarly punishment from Shamil Gasanov in the first round of their fight at ONE Fight Night 12.

Despite absorbing some tough offense from Gasanov, Tonon found the wherewithal to reverse the tempo and forced the Russian submission expert to submit to a gruesome-looking knee bar.

In his in-ring interview with Mitch Chilson, Tonon had no choice but to breathe a huge sigh of relief for surviving the early onslaught and taking the submission win.

“All right before we say anything, he beat the s*** out of you out there. Give it a round of applause for Shamil. Thank God for submissions.”

Gasanov went on a tear against Tonon in the first round of their featherweight match at the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium and had ‘The Lion Killer’ fighting from a more defensive standpoint.

The early part of the second round was still all Gasanov, but Tonon had him all figured out.

Tonon was backed up on the corner when he masterfully rolled and brought Gasanov to the ground.

After carefully isolating a leg, Tonon slowly worked on setting up the traps that would leave Gasanov vulnerable to a submission hold.

Tonon then showed his BJJ pedigree when he rolled to his back and locked in the nasty knee bar. Gasanov, who’s one of the toughest fighters in the division, was subjected to such tremendous pain that he let out a ghastly scream before tapping his hand on the canvas.

The win was Tonon’s second straight and his eighth in his nine MMA matches.