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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Garry Tonon definitely knows a thing or two about grappling.

As a second degree Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who carries a long list of accolades, the 32-year-old submission specialist could take on anybody on the mats and give them hell.

Despite his obvious prowess and knowledge on the ground, Tonon still had to learn to adapt his style when he transitioned to MMA, but it’s worked out pretty well thus far. In nine professional fights, he has eight wins, six by submission and two more by TKO on the ground.

As much as he’s worked to add new weapons to his arsenal as an MMA fighter, Tonon never forgets his roots, because that’s what got him to the race in the first place.

“I still make what makes me successful and what makes me, me, a big part of my training,” Tonon told MMA Fighting. “It’s not like, ‘Oh, I’ve trained jiu-jitsu for 15 years, I don’t need to do that anymore and just hope that it all falls together in the fight.’ I still do one MMA practice a day and one jiu-jitsu practice a day. So I do two-a-day system.

“I used to grapple a whole lot more during the day, but that was partially because grappling was my only thing. Now it’s one and one, especially when I’m getting closer and closer to a fight.”

Tonon doesn’t pat himself on the back too much when he’s compared to other high-level grapplers who’ve made waves in MMA. But he’s definitely found a level of consistency that even some of the most decorated jiu-jitsu specialists failed to achieve in the sport.

According to Tonon, it’s not necessarily that he’s just so much better than other grapplers coming into MMA, but rather it’s the arsenal he brings with him.

“There are some things that make me different,” he explained. “Some of that has a little bit to do with the variety of submissions that I am able to pull off comparative to some other athletes. For some other athletes, it’s like the only place they’re going to be able to submit somebody is if they get their back. That was me for many years in my jiu-jitsu. It took a really long time before I started to open up my submission game.

“I have a lot of weapons, so I think that makes it a little bit easier for me than some people. I do a good job, I think of varying the threat. While I’m obviously submissions dominant compared to other athletes because that’s my thing, I do a good job threatening my opponents in other ways. It’s not safe to just stand in front of me. It’s not safe to be on the ground and get hit by me. I’ve had TKO victories in the past, too. Not every grappler is capable of doing that.”

When it comes to the best grapplers in MMA, Tonon understands that’s a different category than just looking at who possesses the most dangerous submission game. Because MMA incorporates so many other weapons, grappling has to adapt and evolve to remain successful.

Taking himself out of the equation, Tonon looks at a couple of specific examples of fighters who blend together a nasty grappling game with striking and wrestling on the ground, which separates them from the rest of the pack.

“Charles Oliveira’s not a terrible answer,” Tonon said. “I’ve watched some of his submission victories in MMA, and he puts together things pretty well. I think that’s a good one. A couple of years ago, I would have said Khabib [Nurmagomedov], even though it’s a different style of grappling than submission grappling. He gets some submissions, too, so I can’t say that completely, but he tends to focus more on punching people in the face when he’s controlling them.

“I think somewhere between Oliveira, you could say [Islam] Makhachev, which is similar to Khabib. I don’t know if I look at him quite the same but those are some good answers. It’s a difference with a focus on submissions and submitting people and hitting people while you’re on the ground when you grapple-box. Because I think both of those display some elements of grappling skill, even though sometimes in the grappling world, at least where I come from, when you think of grapplers you’re thinking of submitting people. Not necessarily people who control you and beat you up but hey, that’s part of this, too.”

As much as he gets asked about grappling, Tonon definitely still dreams of the day when he’ll be able to score a win on the feet, but he’s not going to rush anything.

In his upcoming fight ONE 165, which airs Sunday at 3 a.m. in the U.S., Tonon faces off with former two-division champion Martin Nguyen, who possesses plenty of finishing power when striking.

Even with Nguyen going through some struggles lately — delivering a 1-3 record in his past four appearances — Tonon knows a fighter like that is never more dangerous than when he’s backed into a corner, and he has to fight his way out of it.

“I look at the big picture,” Tonon said. “I don’t just look at a couple of performances that didn’t go his way and say ‘oh, he’s washed up or he sucks.’ I still look at him as a whole as an incredibly versatile mixed martial artist that has dealt with so many different styles of fighters. He’s fought pure grapplers. Martin was able to deal with these guys who specialize in spinning attacks. He lost to Thanh [Le] but he was beating him at points in the fight. Thanh is the interim title holder and Thanh beat me. That’s a karate guy.

“He’s shown what he’s good at, he’s leveraged into beating so many different elite opponents. Regardless of one or two performances, I don’t know how I could ever just count him out in any capacity.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

UFC

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Two-time PFL lightweight champion Kayla Harrison has signed with the UFC, and she’s agreed to cut down to bantamweight to face Holly Holm in her octagon debut at UFC 300.

Harrison’s former foe, Larissa Pacheco, isn’t confident that the Olympian can hit the mark for the April 13 event.

Pacheco, a two-division champion in the PFL at 155 and 145 pounds, said in an interview with MMA Fighting that the biggest question going into UFC 300 is whether or not Harrison will be able to hit 135 the morning before.

“Let’s see if she can make weight first,” Pacheco said. “To cut [weight] with all that muscle she has, she has to be ready. I don’t know if it’s easier now that the UFC doesn’t work with USADA anymore, if she can use some juice or something like that [laughs] because being that gigantic, she has to do something to make weight. Let’s see if she can do it.”

UFC CEO Dana White recently said the American Top Team athlete made test cuts before agreeing to the match. Harrison competed her entire career as a lightweight, except for one featherweight showdown at Invicta FC and her last PFL bout, a featherweight bout that was moved to 150-pound catchweight after Aspen Ladd replaced Julia Budd on three weeks’ notice.

The weight cut won’t be easy for Harrison, who competed as high as 172 pounds as an Olympic judoka, Pacheco said. The Brazilian vet also said Harrison might not be in her prime anymore at 33. Holly Holm may not be at her best either, having lost by submission to Mayra Bueno Silva in her most recent bout, but being a natural bantamweight could give her an advantage.

“[Holm] might not be in her prime, but she has huge experience and is used to cutting that weight and competing in that weight class, while Kayla is doing it for the first time,” Pacheco said. “I don’t know, maybe Holly wins this fight. Aspen wasn’t in a good moment and still gave [Harrison] trouble in that fight. To say that [Harrison] is fighting at the highest level against everyone, she’s not. It’s clear. She might be in great shape, but her performances aren’t good.”

The PFL champion will cheer for Holm to be victorious at UFC 300 given her three-fight rivalry with Harrison, which ended at 2-1 in favor of the American. However, Pacheco added that an eventual victory for Harrison in the UFC “is good parameter for me, since I’ve beaten her, and I know I can beat her again, and I’ll have an idea about the level [of competition in the UFC].”

“Nothing against Kayla,” she continued. “But she’s a former opponent, and that will never change. I feel she’s a different person in front of the camera, she’s cocky, and that’s not who I am. I talk to everybody, I respect everybody.

“She was always very arrogant toward everybody in the organization. The way she walked, how she acted, always portraying herself as the queen of MMA. I just don’t think she will do that well in the UFC. It will take some time for her to step to a new weight class. She might do well, but her performances, I don’t think she will deliver that much.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Doesn’t care
| BJPenn.com

Joe Rogan wasn’t lying when he called Benoit Saint-Denis “next level” and suggested Dustin Poirier prepare his ass off for their matchup at UFC 299 this March.

While most should listen to Rogan based on his tremendous depth of experience and knowledge of the fight game, one look at Saint-Denis and it’s easy to see why the long-time UFC color commentator would send such a dire warning to “Diamond.” That’s because Saint-Denis is a physical specimen at 155 pounds and a real-life fighter of bad guys.

On Friday, video footage surfaced of Saint-Denis physically preparing himself for a his fight with Poirier. There wasn’t any sparring footage, but the sheer power, speed, and determination that the French lightweight is displaying should scare Poirier and most of his fans.

Check out Saint-Denis’ recent training session in the above video player.

Of course, Poirier is dangerous in his own right, but he’s coming off a tough knockout loss to Justin Gaethje last July and is really sticking his neck out there by offering to fight a lesser-ranked, fairly-unknown contender. It is a true risk for Poirier, but he’s doing everything he can to stay active to fight his way back to a potential UFC lightweight title shot.

If victorious at UFC 299, a win for Saint-Denis will launch him to the front of the line at 155 pounds. The former French Special Forces standout has already amassed an impressive 5-0 UFC lightweight record with five devastating finishes. A win over Poirier will be exactly what Saint-Denis needs to become one of the division’s scariest outs (as if he already isn’t one).

Thoughts?

MMAmania.com – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Former two-weight champion, Conor McGregor may have revealed he plans to headline UFC 302 at the end of June coming, however, the Dubliner claims a return on the already-massive UFC 300 card two months prior against Michael Chandler in a main event slot would “seal the deal” on the flagship event.

McGregor, a former undisputed lightweight and featherweight titleholder under the banner of the promotion, has yet to make his return to competition since he fractured his left tibia and fibula in an opening round doctor’s stoppage TKO loss to Dustin Poirier back in July 2021.

And before the turn of the year, McGregor revealed on social media how he would be expecting to make his comeback atop a UFC 302 card on June 29. during International Fight Week – in a middleweight division first against lightweight rival, Chandler.

However, overnight, with the promotion lining up their UFC 300 card breakdown on social media – the organization elected to leave the main event billing as a ‘TBD vs. TBD’.

Conor McGregor calls for UFC 300 inclusion

And in response, Chandler appeared to hint at a feature – while Dublin striker, McGregor claimed his inclusion in the headliner of UFC 300 in April would “seal” the card entirely.

“McGregor on 300 seals the deal,” Conor McGregor posted on his official X account overnight.

Himself sidelined since November 2022, Chandler’s most recent outing came in the form of a submission loss to common-foe, Poirier at UFC 281 in Madison Square Garden. 

Without a victory since 2020, McGregor’s most recent win came in the form of a first round 40-second high-kick and strikes TKO win over Donald Cerrone in a welterweight matchup. 

Do you think Conor McGregor features at UFC 300?

LowKickMMA.com

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts