After his win at ONE on Prime Video 3 this month Shamil Gasanov wasted no time in calling out the #2 ranked featherweight. The translator missed it first time around but the Russian repeatedly said that he wanted to fight Garry Tonon next.
Gasanov seems determined to secure a fight with the BJJ black belt and went as far as threatening to rip Tonon’s head off,
“(He) is nothing more than an American trash talker. If he thinks he can break off my leg, I can rip his head off and mail it back to the States after the fight.”
Gasanov has clearly seen this tweet from Tonon in which he threatened to break off the Russian’s leg and use it to fly an American flag:
@shamilcobra says I don't last 5 minutes with him. Do I succumb to the Russian Mixed martial arts invasion 🇷🇺, or do I break his leg off, use it to fly our flag, and make Ronald Reagan and the American people proud 🇺🇸💪? pic.twitter.com/D4xeEu112b
— Garry Tonon (@Garry_Tonon) October 23, 2022
On the shelf
Quite why Tonon is looking to make former US president Ronald Reagan proud is unclear. But Gasanov doubled down on his war of words with the American.
After winning six fights in succession Tonon was beaten by Thanh Le in a featherweight title bout earlier this year. Since then he has been taking a well deserved break from MMA, although he hasn’t exactly been inactive.
Tonon has competed twice in submission grappling but Gasanov thinks that the decorated grappler was sitting on the shelf after that title loss,
“He should be grateful people are talking about him now. He should thank me. ONE has put him on the shelf, forgot about him already. If he wants to come back, I will help him retire.”
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Great feeling
While Gasanov doesn’t sound particularly charitable when he is talking about Tonon the Russian had more than one reason to celebrate after his ONE Championship debut. He was handed a $50,000 USD bonus and says that his training partner, who also happens to be the heavyweight champion, predicted this would happen,
“Well, Anatoly Malykhin told me that a submission in round one could be my good chance to get a bonus, and that’s exactly how it all played out. It’s a great feeling to have a bonus.”
He won’t be spending it all at once though. Gasanov is heading straight back to Phuket to continue training alongside Malykhin at Tiger Muay Thai.
Having secured the #5 spot in the rankings he wants a quick turnaround but says the money is on its way back to Russia,
“I am going to give it to my parents, who have been very supportive of me all these years. They can spend it as they wish. I am going to collect my fee and head back to Thailand to train for my next bouts.”
