Undefeated Canadian star Ben Tynan wants to continue his run of dominance and smash his way into the ONE Heavyweight MMA World Championship picture.
The man known as “Vanilla Thunder” will step closer to that goal when he faces former World Title contender Kirill Grishenko in a heavyweight MMA showdown at ONE Fight Night 34 on Prime Video, which airs live in U.S. primetime from Bangkok’s Lumpinee Stadium on Friday, August 1.
Tynan, a Canadian Junior Freestyle Wrestling National Champion and NCAA Division I National Champion qualifier, has been invincible ever since making the transition to MMA in 2017.
The Dragonball Z fanatic steamrolled his opponents in the amateur ranks, finishing all eight of them and picking up multiple titles along the way.
That success followed him in his professional career, as he has a flawless 5-0 record with a 100 percent finishing rate.
What makes Tynan so special is his decisive fighting style. The 31-year-old utilizes his world-class wrestling to land the takedown, and he’ll continue overwhelming his rivals with heavy ground-and-pound or one of the many submissions in his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu arsenal.
Combine that with his firepower and endurance, and it usually becomes a quick night for whoever stands across from him in the ring. He displayed that to perfection in his promotional debut against Kang Ji Won in November 2023.
In fact, Tynan is so confident in his skills that he believes no one can hang with him when combining wrestling with boxing.
“Vanilla Thunder” said:
“No matter what, my grappling is always going to be my bread and butter. And I mean this: there’s no one who can hang with me in an MMA grappling setting. I honestly think I’m the best in the world. If you throw on gloves and [add] punches and strikes, and go, ‘Alright, grapple on the ground,’ I’m beating everyone. So that’s always been my strength, and I still work it and sharpen it. But I train everything every day.”
Tynan will be meeting Grishenko, who has also been on a tear.
The 34-year-old Belarusian enjoyed a hot start to his MMA run, using his elite Greco-Roman wrestling and striking prowess to win his first five matches and hand future ONE Heavyweight MMA World Champion “Reug Reug” Oumar Kane the only loss of his career.
Though Grishenko fell in his next two battles, including a failed ONE Interim Heavyweight MMA World Title challenge against Anatoly “Sladkiy” Malykhin in February 2022, he went back to the lab and rebuilt his game.
Grishenko continued to refine his grappling and spent plenty of time focusing his efforts in “the sweet science,” ultimately winning a Belarusian National Boxing Championship.
Those skills were on display in his recent back-to-back victories over Kang Mauro Cerilli. He would even use a leg kick to finish the latter.
But despite Grishenko’s striking and top-notch Greco-Roman wrestling, Tynan believes his skills, including his freestyle grappling prowess, are on another level:
“In a lot of his fights, no one has really gotten him on the ground for a long time. But I don’t know. Not to be disrespectful, but I think Greco-Roman wrestlers are chumps. Sure, they got good upper bodies, but so much grappling is involved in the legs.
“You always hear guys like, ‘Oh, no, this guy’s a Greco-this or Greco-that. It’s like, ‘Yeah, how’s that going to stop my double leg? It’s not.’ You know what I mean? So, he might have decent grappling, but when you combine [it in a] sport like MMA, it’s like, ‘I’ve got so many weapons, he ain’t stopping ’em.'”
Tynan Plans To Finish Grishenko, Enter World Title Conversation
Ben Tynan respects Kirill Grishenko’s skills and accomplishments, but the Canadian heavyweight MMA star believes he’ll overpower him at ONE Fight Night 34 on Prime Video.
“Vanilla Thunder” knows that he is a technical martial artist with more experience, but he doesn’t feel threatened by the Belarusian one bit. As a matter of fact, he believes this will be an early night for the former ONE World Title challenger.
Tynan said:
“I’m going to finish him, and I think he knows that threat is coming to him, whether I take him on the ground or take him out on the feet. I feel like he is going to be very cautious of my weapons, and I’m going to land a lot of heavy shots.”
If Tynan were to emerge victorious, his eyes will be directly on the ONE Heavyweight MMA World Championship rematch between reigning titleholder “Reug Reug” Oumar Kane and two-division king Anatoly Malykhin at ONE 173 in Tokyo, Japan, on November 16.
In their first battle in November 2024, the Senegalese wrestling behemoth did just enough to hand Malykhin his first career loss and take the heavyweight gold via split decision. The bout was so close, the two are now running it back later this year in the Japanese capital.
Tynan will be paying very close attention to the colossal showdown, as he’ll want to challenge the victor for the divisional crown.
The Canadian said:
“It’s kind of annoying that they’re doing an immediate rematch because I feel like Anatoly already has two other belts. So it’s like, ‘Ok, we’ll let them do a rematch, so I could beat up whoever wins that one.’ But yeah, I definitely want a shot and get that belt.”
