“I’m sure we’re down for a third fight” - Tiffany Teo looking to face Xiong Jing Nan in her own trilogy

Tiffany Teo may have moved on from the ONE women’s strawweight division, but she believes that the chapter of her story with the division’s top dog Xiong Jing Nan doesn’t end there.

Before dropping down to atomweight, ‘No Chill’ was a fixture in the upper echelon of the women’s 125-pound ranks, with impressive wins over Michelle Nicolini, Ayaka Miura, and most recently, Meng Bo.

The 32-year-old former boxer accumulated a 10-2 record overall, with seven of those wins taking place inside the circle. However, the two blemishes on her slate came at Xiong's hands during her two failed bids to take over the women’s strawweight throne.

Tiffany Teo will start fresh in a lower weight class as she faces Ritu Phogat in the main card of ONE 161: Petchmorakot vs. Tawanchai on Thursday, September 29, inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

However, as far as the Singaporean is concerned, a third fight with Xiong is still possible somewhere down the line – if the stars align.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Tiffany Teo shared:

“Yeah, definitely. I’m pretty sure ‘Panda’ is open to that too. I remember reading an article somewhere that ‘Panda’ is open to a third fight. I have a really friendly relationship with Xiong even though we met each other in the circle. So I’m sure we’re both open to a third fight, but the time has to be right, the money has to be right, and if everything’s good, I’m sure we’re down for a third fight.”

After going unbeaten in her first seven MMA bouts, Tiffany Teo was a clear choice to contend for the inaugural ONE women’s strawweight world title in 2018. Standing in her way at the time was a fellow former boxer in Xiong, who added an impressive win to her 12-1 professional MMA record when she knocked out Filipina standout April Osenio in her promotional debut. However, ‘The Panda’ proved that there are levels to this game, stopping the Teo hype train on its tracks with an empathic fourth-round TKO win.

‘No Chill’ earned a second world title shot in 2020 after convincingly winning back-to-back fights. The rematch between the top two strawweights in the women’s MMA division was more competitive this time, with Teo standing her ground and going toe-to-toe with her Chinese rival. Ultimately, though, it was still Xiong who would get her hand raised in victory.

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Tiffany Teo thinks Angela Lee is unworthy of world title shot against Xiong Jing Nan

Before entertaining the idea of a rubber match with Teo, Xiong will have to settle another trilogy with her bitter rival, Angela Lee, at ONE on Prime Video 2 this Friday, September 30.

The ONE women’s atomweight world champion will be staking her claim for Xiong’s strawweight gold for the second time, following her failed attempt to unseat ‘The Panda’ in 2019.

In typical ‘No Chill’ fashion, Teo questioned how Lee got the world title shot in the first place. After all, ‘Unstoppable’ supposedly cut the line considering her last two bouts at strawweight did not end well for her.

Teo said in the same interview:

“It makes zero sense to me. She pretty much got her a** kicked in the strawweight division - she lost to Michelle [Nicolini], she lost to ‘Panda’ [Xiong Jing Nan]. She has zero wins at strawweight, and the next thing you hear is that she’s fighting for the title.”

It looks like Tiffany Teo is not a fan of Angela Lee and would love to fight her inside the circle at any weight class. She can certainly put herself in a position to call Lee out with a big win over Phogat at ONE 161.