Master Featherweight Grapplers Scheduled For Possible ONE Title Eliminator

The featherweight division has long been one of ONE Championship's standard-bearer weight classes due to the wealth of talent present on its roster, and the promotion may have just set up a title eliminator with Garry Tonon and Shamil Gasanov for mid-July.

Sources report that ranked featherweights will be in action at ONE Fight Night 12 on the hallowed grounds of the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

Entering as the No. 2 and No. 5-ranked featherweights respectively, Tonon and Gasanov's bout is expected to be a grappling masterclass thanks to the former's black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and the latter winning two European Grappling titles.

Tonon needs little introduction to fans of the Singapore-based combat sports promotion

"The Lion Killer" made his MMA debut in March 2018 against Richard Corminal, whom he defeated by second-round TKO.

He would go on to rack up five-straight wins on his way to challenging Thanh Le for the division's strap in March 2022 at ONE: Lights Out–a bout he lost by first-round knockout after his ill-fated submission attempt led to him eating ground-and-pound punches.

Tonon would bounce back from the loss to Le with an astounding kimura submission of Johnny Nunez last January at ONE Fight Night 6 to improve his MMA record to 7-1.

As for Gasanov, his maiden appearance could not have been any better after he made respected knockout artist Kim Jae Woong tap out via a rear-naked choke in October of last year.

Even though "The Cobra" has only had one victory under ONE Championship, his winning streak actually extends to nine fights that date back to his time on Russia's regional MMA scene.

It should be noted that reigning divisional kingpin Tang Kai was also supposed to fight arch-nemesis Thanh Le in a rematch at ONE Fight Night 12, but he has been shunted off the card due to a knee injury that he suffered in training.

With a potential world title shot waiting for the winner's future, fans watching at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium and around the world can expect an impressive showing of skills throughout the bout as Tonon and Gasanov duke it out for the right to challenge Tang or Le.

ONE Fight Night 12 on July 15 (July 14 in the U.S.) will be headlined by Roman Kryklia's defense of the ONE light heavyweight title against Francesko Xhaja, and American can catch the action live on Amazon Prime Video at 8:00 PM ET.