This article is part of our week of ADCC 2022 coverage. To get live results, play by play, and commentary, we’ll have a live updates article running all weekend.
Garry Tonon has just made a huge decision ahead of ADCC 2022, deciding to move down in weight to compete in the 66kg division. Tonon has competed at the last four ADCC world championship events and has always stayed at 77kg, although his journey to an MMA title-fight at ONE Championship has happened at the same time at 70kg. Tonon has not competed at 66kg at any point during either of his professional grappling or MMA careers, but he has gone as low as 68kg in the past and as a consummate professional it is incredibly unlikely that Tonon would commit to a weight that he wasn’t certain he could make.
His move to the 66kg division actually means that the entire 16-man roster is complete, making it the first out of any weightclass for the event. Of course this does also open up an opportunity at 77kg for a new invite to be given out to an elite grappler somewhere out there who will no doubt be eager to take the challenge on board. It’s unclear why Tonon decided to change weightclasses after experiencing a steady increase of success at 77kg, but it’s possible that his teammate Oliver Taza winning an invite in the same division may have had something to do with it.
ADCC famously avoids closeouts in the finals of their events at all costs and does so by matching up teammates no later than the second round, ensuring that it is impossible for a team to take home two medals in the same division. With Garry Tonon dropping down to 66kg, this gives him and Taza the ability to both reach the podium at ADCC 2022. In fact, it’s possible for the guys at New Wave Jiu-Jitsu to take home a medal in every single male division at the event with Giancarlo Bodoni at 88kg, Luke Griffith and Nicholas Meregali at 99kg, Gordon Ryan and Daniel Manasoiu at over 99kg, while Ryan will also be competing in the superfight against Andre Galvao.
The news of Garry Tonon moving down to the 66kg division of the 2022 ADCC World Championships was announced in a post to the promotion’s official Instagram account:
