Tiffany Teo says 'rare disease' kept her sidelined

Tiffany Teo explained that she hasn't been able to compete in the ONE Circle for over a year due to a rare disease which stopped her from sweating. The Singaporean strawweight will return to action at ONE: Heavy Hitters on Friday as she welcomes Meng Bo to the division.

'No Chill' went the distance with the champion, Xiong Jing Nan, in October 2020 but ultimately came up short in what was her second encounter with the Chinese fighter:

'Besides the loss, a lot of things happened after the [Xiong Jing Nan] fight,' said Teo. 'About one or two months after, I was diagnosed with a really weird condition. I was diagnosed with Anhidrosis. It’s a condition where you can’t sweat. So I’d go for one to two hours of training and I wouldn’t sweat at all, my body is overheating and it was almost impossible for me to train—not to mention fight. So it took me half a year or so to get this figured out,' the Singaporean continued.

'It’s such a rare condition it was hard to find treatment, even in Singapore. But I’m glad that I’ve got it sorted out. All this time off and having all these doubts whether I could step in the Circle again made me realize how much I treasure being able to do this. I tell myself, the next fight—any fight—could be my last fight. I’ve learned that I want to give 100% in every fight I have,' added Teo.

Before losing to Ritu Phogat in the ONE Women's Atomweight World Grand Prix, Meng Bo was on 7-fight tear and earned a reputation as arguably the hardest hitter in the division. To be given a bout with the No.1 contender at strawweight is testament to her ability and how highly regarded she is by the promotion.

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Teo wants atomweight move

Having fought 3 of the top 5 strawweights in the division, the Lion City girl has realized that it might be time for a move down to atomweight. The recent Grand Prix emphasized how deep the talent pool is in that weight class, and 'No Chill' is strongly considering a move:

'I'm open to the idea of dropping to atomweight. I feel like that's where the talent pool is and I would really like to compete more this year so if there's more fights there I'm definitely thinking about dropping down,' said Teo.

If the two-time title contender defeats Bo on Friday, then the only viable fights for her at strawweight would be a clash with No.5-ranked Jenelyn Olsim or waiting for a third crack at the champion. However, 'The Panda' recently emphasised her own desire to go down to atomweight to become a two-division champ, so it will be intriguing to see how things pan out over the coming months.