“Her game doesn’t work out as well” - Tiffany Teo hopes Ritu Phogat bounces back with lessons from latest loss 

Tiffany Teo’s atomweight debut at ONE 161 sent shockwaves throughout the division. Formerly a standout in the world of strawweights, Teo made the cut to atomweight against the returning ‘Indian Tigress’ Ritu Phogat. Despite dropping 10 pounds, ‘No Chill’ did not appear to lose any strength or stamina.

She delivered a dominant performance against Phogat, scoring a first-round submission victory. Ritu Phogat showed a lot of promise, winning seven of her first eight fights. However, she has since fallen on hard times, losing back-to-back fights via submission.

In an interview with ONE Championship following her win, Tiffany Teo said her goal was to show that wrestling is not enough to be the best in MMA, but wishes Ritu Phogat well in her journey as a mixed martial artist.

“The whole intention was to show that she’s a wrestler and in the context of MMA, her game doesn’t work out as well. I wish the best for her. I hope that after this loss, she goes back to the drawing board and realize that there’s just some loopholes to her game that needs to be addressed, especially if she wants to flourish in this stacked division.”

---

Tiffany Teo knew exactly what to expect from Ritu Phogat at ONE 161

Before Tiffany Teo stepped into the circle against ‘The Indian Tigress’ at ONE 161, she knew exactly what to expect from the wrestle-heavy atomweight.

Early on in the contest, Phogat opted to stand and strike with Teo. Honestly, Phogat looked fairly sharp. It was clear that much of her nine months away from competition was spent honing her striking skills.

However, Phogat quickly abandoned that strategy, moving in for a takedown that ultimately led to the fight-ending sequence, which did not go in her favor. Sharing her thoughts on Phogat’s game plan, Teo said:

“She kinda did whatever I expected. I knew that she likes to go for the single-leg and then she likes to drive you to the cage to finish her takedown. I watched all of her fights, and that’s kind of what she did for all her fights. So I wasn’t surprised that she did that, but I was surprised that she was really trying to strike with me.”