Garry Tonon just submitted Martin Nguyen in the opening round of their fight at ONE 165 on January 28th, 2024 and he managed to win a huge $50,000 ‘Performance of the Night’ bonus in the process. It was a big fight for the ONE Championship featherweight division, as both of these men are ranked in the top 3 of the weight class. Although it should have been a very close contest on paper, it didn’t end up looking like that once they actually got into the ring. Tonon obviously wanted the fight on the ground and it wasn’t long before it ended up there, with him being able to show the skill difference pretty much immediately.
Tonon took Nguyen’s back, locked up the body-triangle and after a few seconds of handfighting he was able to sink in the rear-naked choke. From there it was obvious that Nguyen wasn’t going to last long and he tapped almost immediately, giving Tonon the win in less than 5 minutes. It’s a big win for Tonon as it puts him right at the very top of the ONE Championship featherweight division and now he has a fantastic case for a title-shot with 3 wins in a row. Garry Tonon wasn’t the only elite grappler to shine at ONE 165 either, as Shinya Aoki also got a first-round submission win in his fight and the co-main event had one of the promotion’s submission grappling titles on the line. That match saw Kade Ruotolo and Tommy Langaker go to war for the lightweight belt, with Ruotolo emerging victorious with a convincing decision win.
ONE 165 Full Results
Superlek Kiatmuu9 defeats Takeru Segawa via Decision – Unanimous (Round 5, 3:00)
Kade Ruotolo defeats Tommy Langaker via Decision – Unanimous (Round 1, 10:00)
Shinya Aoki defeats John Lineker via Submission – Rear-naked Choke (Round 1, 3:00)
Nieky Holzken defeats Yoshihiro Akiyama via TKO – Punches (Round 1, 1:40)
Marat Grigorian defeats Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong via KO – Knee and Punch to the body (Round 3, 1:20)
Garry Tonon defeats Martin Nguyen via Submission – Rear-naked Choke (Round 1, 4:41)
Ayaka Miura defeats Itsuki Hirata via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 5:00)
Preliminary Card
Yuya Wakamatsu defeats Danny Kingad via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 5:00)
Rade Opacic defeats Iraj Azizpour via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 3:00)
Bokang Masunyane defeats Keito Yamakita via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 5:00)
Gustavo Balart defeats Hiroba Minowa via Decision – Split (Round 3, 5:00)
The full ONE 165 live event replay, including Garry Tonon submitting Martin Nguyen in the first round of their fight, is available to watch as a PPV here.
