A rundown of the biggest headlines and news from the world of competitive grappling.
Submission grappling’s biggest star looks to have taken a step away from the sport.
Garry Tonon has been plying his trade in ONE Championship over the last year, and he has amassed an undefeated MMA record. Tonon was scheduled to make his grappling return and compete at the illustrious ADCC world championships in September, but it seems like that isn’t the case anymore.
In an interview with BJJ news site grapplinginsider.com, Tonon let slip that his eyes are no longer fixed on ADCC gold.
“As of right now I have told ADCC that I won’t be there. I don’t want them to try to keep the invitation open. There’s an event in Japan that’s near the same date as ADCC. I think there’s a good chance I end up being on that card, so I don’t want to take a chance that I have to split my focus on the two things. I really would love to do ADCC, you know, it’s like a huge deal for me, but I’ve done it three times now and I think there will be times in the future to have other opportunities. It sucks to have to miss but at the same time, MMA is my main focus now.”
Tonon will be badly missed by grappling fans as he has had some of the most memorable matches in recent ADCC history, including his victory over Danis and his epic match with Kron Gracie.
Tonon is expected to step back into the ONE cage within the next 2 months.
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