“Being gritty is one of her strengths” - Tiffany Teo sees similarities in Ritu Phogat’s fighting style

Tiffany Teo is looking to make a run in the ONE atomweight division after a dominant run at strawweight, which included two epic bouts with the reigning ONE strawweight women’s world champion Xiong Jing Nan. After an impressive second-round submission victory over Meng Bo in January, the Singaporean fighter will welcome back ‘The Indian Tigress’ Ritu Phogat to the Circle at ONE 161 on Friday.

Ahead of their atomweight clash, Tiffany Teo spoke with ONE Championship to discuss her opponent and the similarities between the two gritty grapplers.

“I watched her first few fights in ONE, and I was pretty impressed with her improvements in each fight. I see her improving her skill set with every fight. But back then, I wasn’t 100% sure that I was going down to atomweight, so I didn’t really see her as an opponent.”

While Tiffany Teo didn’t initially consider Phogat as a potential opponent, ‘No Chill’ has re-evaluated ‘The Indian Tigress’ now that they’re in the same weight class. She believes they will bring fans an entertaining scrap.

“Now that I’ve reviewed her fights, I think definitely that being gritty is one of her strengths. But if you watched my fights, you’d see that I’m also a very gritty fighter, so I think that will make it a very interesting fight.”

---

Tiffany Teo ready to test herself in a new weight class at ONE 161

When Tiffany Teo steps into the Circle at ONE 161, it will be at a brand new weight class. The former strawweight title challenger will make the move to atomweight, meeting ONE Women’s Atomweight World Grand Prix finalist Ritu Phogat.

Discussing her drop to atomweight, Teo said that she feels no change in her strength despite the 10-pound weight difference between strawweight and atomweight.

“I’m very confident that there’s not much difference in my strength, physically. That was one of my worries going down to atomweight: a smaller frame and kind of losing my strength. So I’ve been constantly getting feedback from my coaches and training partners. Every time I train with them, I would ask them, ‘Do I feel weaker? You have to tell me if I feel weaker!’ The feedback has been good, they say, ‘Nah, you’re the same.’”

While ‘No Chill’ admits she doesn’t necessarily understand how she keeps her strength and conditioning the same despite the significant weight difference, it gives her a boost of confidence heading into her upcoming matchup.

“We don’t really know how that works, but I feel like I kept my strength even though I’m dieting and I’m going down to a lower weight class, so I’m really confident about that.”