Tiffany Teo: Battling her way to the belt

Unbeaten strawweight Tiffany “No Chill” Teo hopes to ascend to greatness on 20 January.

The Singaporean, who has a perfect professional record of seven wins, will step into the ONE Championship cage to battle Xiong Jing Nan for the inaugural ONE Women’s Strawweight World Title at ONE: KINGS OF COURAGE in Jakarta.

And while she’ll be conceding an experience advantage to her opponent, Teo is confident in victory when the pair meet in the main event in Indonesia.

“I feel a knockout or submission is possible,” the 28-year-old stated.

“She is pretty wild with her punches so the opening for a knockout is there, and an opening for a takedown is there if she is committing to her punches.

“At the same time, she is tough. She might not get knocked down or knocked out, and she might go the full five rounds, so there are a lot of possibilities and outcomes to this match.”

Teo has impressed in the cage since making her debut in February 2016. A Singapore national boxing champion, she has a solid background in Muay Thai and taekwondo, plus grappling successes in BJJ tournaments across Asia.

Three first-round finishes earned her a spot on the ONE Championship roster and she hasn’t looked back since.

A second-round submission of Walaa Abbas at ONE: DEFENDING HONOR was followed by a hat-trick of wins, with the most recent outing seeing her score an armbar finish of India’s Puja Tomar at ONE: IMMORTAL PURSUIT in Singapore in November.

Despite her impressive win, Teo remains grounded and says there’s still much to work on.

“There is always something to improve on, I guess. Especially for the last match. Maybe it is me being a bit of a perfectionist,” she said.

“It affected my game plan. I felt like I was not aggressive enough with my strikes. I guess the possibility of getting a shot at the ONE Women’s Strawweight World Title added a little bit of stress.”

That title shot is now a reality, as she prepares to take on Xiong, who is considered one of the best martial artists to emerge from China in recent years. 

The strawweight contender is a former pro boxer and a China Open BJJ champion, and won her ONE Championship debut spectacularly enough to catapult her into championship contention immediately.

Teo was watching that bout closely, and was impressed with what she saw.

“She was really dominant with her punches,” the Singaporean admitted.

“She rushed in with wild punches, and was looking for the knockout with every punch she was throwing. It was a very impressive match.”

But despite Xiong’s aggressive display, Teo said she’d seen enough to convince her that she could exploit certain weaknesses in the Chinese athlete’s game.

“Most of her wins are in the first round by KO or TKO, so I feel her strongest rounds will be her first two, because I do not think anyone can be that explosive for five rounds,” she explained.

“And most of her matches do not really go to the ground. In her recent one [against Osenio], she did not have good control after she took her down, so I feel I have an advantage on the ground.”

Teo is focused and ready ahead of the biggest bout of her career, and she’ll head into the potentially career-defining contest with the full support of her family, who initially weren’t sure about their daughter’s foray into competitive martial arts, but eventually were won over by Teo’s performances.

“My parents are very supportive now,” she says, proudly.

“When I first started [competing in martial arts], I told people they were not supportive and wanted me to stop. But now, they are checking on me, my training, my preparations, and are asking about my matches.

“They are changing their attitude, and it is really nice having the support of my parents. I am really happy about it.”