“I’m leaning towards Panda” - Tiffany Teo picks Xiong Jing Nan to knock out Ayaka Miura

The highly anticipated main event of ONE: Heavy Hitters is a hard one to predict. However, Tiffany Teo may have an inkling of who will come out on top.

Xiong Jing Nan defends her world title against Ayaka Miura on Friday, January 14 in Singapore.

Having previously faced both reigning ONE women’s strawweight world champion Xiong Jing Nan (twice) and No.4-ranked Ayaka Miura, Tiffany Teo is in a great position to predict the winner of this much-awaited showdown.

Speaking to ONE Championship in a recent interview, the top-ranked strawweight contender shared her thoughts on the upcoming matchup.

“I’m pretty surprised with this matchup, actually. Ayaka fought a Brazilian girl, I think that she won. But I didn’t expect her to get the title shot so soon. So it’s a classic striker versus grappler matchup.”

Tiffany Teo added:

“If the fight goes to the ground, I think Panda would be able to handle Ayaka’s submission attempts. I think I’ve seen Panda fight against a few grapplers a few times and when she gets taken down, she gets a sense of urgency to just pop back up immediately so I think that’s very important for MMA fighters, especially in this match-up against Ayaka.”

Teo shared and early prediction and backed Xiong Jing Nan to win.

“So early prediction. I’m leaning towards Panda, guessing via TKO or KO.”

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Tiffany Teo on the comeback trail

Tiffany Teo has long been a top contender in the ONE women’s strawweight division. Her two epic performances against Xiong Jin Nan were both valiant efforts to take the division’s throne. The Singaporean has improved immensely in each outing, and it could be just a matter of time until she has the strawweight belt hoisted over her shoulders.

Up next for Tiffany Teo is a showdown with former atomweight contender Meng Bo of China. Like Xiong Jing Nan, Meng is a dangerous striker and capable finisher, noted mostly for her ability to throw hands. She is known for having defeated former UFC champion Zhang Weili early in her career.

Meng, however, lost to Ritu Phogat in the ONE Women’s Atomweight World Grand Prix quarterfinal, and now she has decided to shift her attention to the strawweight class.

Heading into the matchup, the more well-rounded Tiffany Teo is no doubt the favorite to win. If the Singaporean can log another impressive victory here, it could be enough to set her up to face the winner of the ONE: Heavy Hitters main event.