Degree of difficulty: Simply winning is not the goal of great grapplers. If victory is all you seek, just fight weak opponents. In this way you will always be victorious – AND NO one WILL CARE. The real goal is winning against great opponents. That is what gets people's attention. We are judged not just by winning, but by the degree of difficulty associated with winning. No grappling athlete does more to find challenging matches than Garry Tonon. Due to the fact that so few athletes his own size will match him, he almost always has to fight extremely talented opponents many weight classes above him. This Friday on California at Fight to Win Pro is no exception. Mr Tonon will take on the extremely talented Gabriel Arges, world champion in both gi and no gi jiu jitsu. Mr Arges has an extremely impressive game, including some of the best leg locking skills in IBJJF competition. He has submitted current ADCC world champion Claudio Calasans with a superb knee bar at the world championships. He normally competes at 194 pounds – so as always it seems, he will have a considerable weight advantage over Mr Tonon, whose normal weight category is 155, along with a significant height advantage. Due to the fact that he fought just last week in Portland, Mr Tonon could not return to NYC to train in preparation for this match, but has been preparing with friends in California. The format of the match is an interesting one – ten minutes of sub only followed by referees decision based upon submission attempts and positional control. I will fly out to California tomorrow to corner him. It is great to see the many grappling shows getting stronger. The west coast is definitely leading the way here with several strong organizations, each offering different and very interesting formats for the athletes to showcase their skills.
