Garry Tonon

Early life As a child, Tonon was identified as having ADHD by his mother, an employee of a non-profit organization for children with special needs. Tonon would also be later diagnosed with alopecia areata, a non-life-threatening condition in which hair is lost from some or all areas of the body. He attended Lacey Township High School in Lacey Township, New Jersey, where he later graduated in 2009.

At age 14, a friend decided to bring Tonon to a local jiu-jitsu tournament, which interested Tonon. He soon began taking classes at his friend's jiu-jitsu academy, but lost interest after several months due to the school's focus on mixed martial arts, as opposed to jiu-jitsu. Shortly after leaving that school, Tonon found an advertisement for Tom DeBlass' academy, Ocean County Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and decided to continue his training there. While still attending high school, Tonon would consistently attend two classes per day at DeBlass' academy. DeBlass, noticing Tonon's interest in the sport, began bringing Tonon to Ricardo Almeida's academy for additional training. After graduating high school in 2009, Tonon began pursuing a degree in exercise science at Rutgers University. While studying at Rutgers, Tonon maintained a rigorous training schedule and continued to compete in both local and international competitions, mostly competing in the gi for the first 5 years of his training, but later beginning to seek out more specialized, no-gi instruction from John Danaher. He was awarded his black belt by Tom DeBlass and Ricardo Almeida in September 2013. One month later, Tonon went on to compete for the first time in the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship in Beijing, China, where he had matches with Kron Gracie, Marcus Almeida, Roberto "Cyborg" Abreu, and Satoru Kitaoka.

From 2013 to 2017, Tonon went on to compete in numerous jiu-jitsu competitions as a black belt, including the IBJJF World & Pan American Championships, Eddie Bravo Invitational, Metamoris, Grapplers Quest, North American Grappling Association (NAGA), Kasai Grappling, Polaris Pro Grappling, ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship, and others. His most notable wins include matches against AJ Agazarm, Joao Miyao, Dillon Danis, Ralek Gracie, and Vinny Magalhaes.

Tonon was booked to compete against Tye Ruotolo at ONE 157 on May 20, 2022 in a submission grappling match. Tonon was submitted with a D'arce choke and lost the match.

As a former medallist, Tonon was invited to compete at the 2022 ADCC World Championship. Prior to the event, Tonon decided to move down in weight to the under 66 kg division. He lost on points to Sam McNally in the opening round and was eliminated from the tournament.

Tonon was invited to compete in the under 77 kg division at the 2024 ADCC World Championship. He was submitted by Mateusz Szczecinski in the opening round.

Mixed martial arts career ONE Championship In March 2018, Tonon made his professional mixed martial arts debut against Richard Corminal at ONE Championship: Iron Will, in Bangkok, Thailand. Tonon won the fight via TKO in the second round. Tonon had his second professional fight against Rahul Raju at ONE Championship: Reign of Kings on July 27, 2018. Tonon won the fight via rear naked choke in the third round. In November 2018, Tonon went on to fight Sung Jong Lee at ONE Championship: Heart of the Lion. Tonon won via guillotine choke in the second round.

On March 31, 2019, Tonon continued his winning streak and fought Anthony Engelen at ONE Championship: A New Era. Tonon won via TKO in the first round. In May, Tonon faced Yoshiki Nakahara at ONE Championship: Enter the Dragon He won the fight via a heel hook submission in the first round.

Garry Tonon was scheduled to face Koyomi Matsushima at ONE Championship: Inside the Matrix 4 on November 20, 2020. The bout was subsequently rescheduled for ONE Championship: Big Bang on December 4, 2020 and it was confirmed that he would have to compete without his coach, John Danaher, in his corner for the first time due to travel restrictions in place in Singapore. Tonon was unable to finish as Matsushima defended his submissions, but secured the unanimous decision victory to earn the first decision win of his mixed martial arts career.

Tonon was scheduled to face reigning champion Thanh Le for the ONE Featherweight Championship at ONE: X on December 5, 2021. In late October 2021, the promotion announced that the event was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. His title fight with Le was rebooked for ONE: Lights Out on March 11, 2022. While attempting a heel hook, Tonon was caught by a hammer fist and lost by first-round knockout, handing him his first career MMA loss.

Tonon faced Johnny Nuñez on January 14, 2023, at ONE Fight Night 6. He won the fight via a kimura submission in the first round.

Tonon faced Shamil Gasanov on July 15, 2023, at ONE Fight Night 12. He submitted Gasanov with a kneebar in the second round and earned a Performance of the Night bonus.

Tonon faced Martin Nguyen on January 28, 2024, at ONE 165. He won the match by rear-naked submission in the first round and earned a $50,000 'Performance of the Night' bonus.

Tonon next faced Shamil Gasanov in a rematch at ONE Fight Night 34 on August 1, 2025. He lost the fight by decision.

On April 24, 2026, it was announced that Tonon was no longer under contract with ONE Championship.

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts ONE Championship Performance of the Night (Two times) Other BJJ Kumite (Brown belt, no-gi)

Mixed martial arts record Loss

Shamil Gasanov Decision (unanimous) ONE Fight Night 34

Bangkok, Thailand Win

Martin Nguyen Submission (rear-naked choke) ONE 165

Tokyo, Japan Win

Shamil Gasanov Submission (kneebar) ONE Fight Night 12

Bangkok, Thailand Win

Johnny Nuñez Submission (kimura) ONE Fight Night 6

Bangkok, Thailand Loss

Thanh Le KO (punches) ONE: Lights Out

Kallang, Singapore Win

Koyomi Matsushima Decision (unanimous) ONE: Big Bang

Kallang, Singapore Win

Yoshiki Nakahara Submission (heel hook) ONE: Enter the Dragon

Kallang, Singapore Win

Anthony Engelen TKO (punches) ONE: A New Era

Tokyo, Japan Win

Lee Sung-jong Submission (guillotine choke) ONE: Heart of the Lion

Kallang, Singapore Win

Rahul Raju Submission (rear-naked choke) ONE: Reign of Kings

Pasay, Philippines Win

Richard Corminal TKO (punches and elbows) ONE: Iron Will

Bangkok, Thailand Submission grappling record Result Opponent Method Event Division Date Location