Fan favorite and DDS OG Garry Tonon will not be among the competitors rolling for ADCC glory as previously announced. Tonon was set to make his much anticipated return to submission grappling in the popular sub-only tournament, but tells Grappling Insider he’s taking a pass to ride the momentum off his recent big win over at One FC.
“As of right now I have told ADCC that I won’t be there,” Tonon explained in an exclusive interview. “There’s an [MMA] 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…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.”
He did say that if he’s somehow left off the MMA card in Japan he’d reconsider, though given the response to Tonon’s last few fights that seems unlikely.
To be clear, Tonon is still training BJJ more than most humans on the planet, even among human who train BJJ. Should he continue to take little damage in the ring, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he could return to future ADCC events and advance with the ease he previously has.
“I still train BJJ twice a day,” says Tonon. “Not a lot has changed in terms of my actual training, other than my goals. So when I train jiujitsu, at certain intervals I don’t just focus on what I would do in a jiujitsu match, I think about what I would do in an MMA fight. It changes things. I’m still training actively. I still feel very strong when I train with high level guys, I don’t really feel like I’m missing a lot of beats. Obviously I’m not innovating in the same ways I would be if I was just focused on jiujitsu, but I feel ready for a grappling match if I was going to take one.”
Tonon is a multiple EBI and IBJJF championship winner. He is currently 5-0 in mixed martial arts. You can read his full interview discussing his One FC gig here.
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