Garry Tonon Talks Grappling Match With Shinya Aoki and MMA Debut

Superstar grappler Garry Tonon has a big challenge ahead of him when he takes on Japanese submission-machine Shinya Aoki in a special grappling match on May 26.

 
The match take place on ONE Championship in Singapore and you can watch live on FloCombat in the U.S.A. Streaming is only on FloCombat in North America. FloPRO yearly subscribers get access to ALL FloSports sites, including FloCombat! 

Our amigos at FloCombat caught up with Tonon shortly after the Shields-Danis grappling match at last weekend’s Submission Underground 4. 

Tonon feels the grappling match could help feed into his plans for his much talked-about MMA debut.

"I have a pretty good feeling that if I submit him [Aoki], he's probably going to try to ask for an MMA fight, and that would be an interesting lead-in for my mixed martial arts career," Tonon said. 

Within six months to a year, you're going to see me fight for sure. After this ADCC, I'm going to really switch gears. I've been doing MMA as a side project, but I think I'm going to really switch gears and make jiu-jitsu more my side projects, [and] MMA my full career and pursuit.

Submitting Aoki is no easy task for anyone, but Tonon believes he'll be able to control the action and leave Singapore with a victory. 

"Overall, I think I'll be able to dominate," Tonon said. "Over time, he's just not going to be used to dealing with an elite-level grappler, but we'll see how it goes.” 

Tonon holds a win over Aoki’s teammate and friend Masakazu Imanari, meaning the Japanese “master of flying submissions” will likely be out for revenge. 

"He's got a really interesting style, something that not a lot of people do. Very few people know how to mix standing grappling with floor grappling. Most people, it's just a double leg or a single leg, you put the guy to the floor, then you use your jiu-jitsu. 

This guy's dangerous from the feet, he's dangerous on the floor, he's dangerous everywhere in between, and I like to believe the same is true about me. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out.