“It made me treasure fighting a lot more” - Tiffany Teo opens up about struggle with rare skin disease, discusses immediate future

Tiffany Teo made her triumphant return to the Circle at ONE: Heavy Hitters and called out practically anyone who would answer her challenge. While it may have sounded brash, ‘No Chill’ is only speaking her truth, as it took quite a while for her to compete again thanks to a rare skin disease.

Shortly after her second bout with Xiong Jing Nan at ONE: Inside the Matrix in October 2020, Teo was diagnosed with anhidrosis, a condition where an individual's body is unable to sweat.

In an interview on the Stronghold Podcast with Lukas Leasure, Tiffany Teo revealed that it doesn’t happen to a lot of people, much less to athletes like her.

After overcoming the disease and getting a big win against Meng Bo last Friday, Teo was asked what her main goal was in the long term, to which she replied:

“I guess the championship is the main goal. In between I just hope that I can fight more especially after the whole incident of not being able to sweat. I felt like it changed my mindset and perspective towards fighting a lot – I feel like any fight can be my last fight. I don’t know when it can start again, it can happen anytime, right? Or maybe I get injured and I can’t fight again. I don’t take fighting for granted anymore. When I thought I couldn’t fight again, it made me depressed and it made me treasure fighting a lot more and I just want to fight as often as I can and I’m ready for anyone.”

Catch the full interview in the video below:

---

Tiffany Teo sets a timeline on her future

Tiffany Teo understands that as much as she loves competing, her fighting days can’t go on forever. When asked how long she plans on competing for, Teo answered:

“It really depends if I get injured along the way or anything unexpected happens. But if everything goes well, I see myself doing this for like three to five more years.”

The 32-year-old has come a long way from learning martial arts for fitness to now being considered the top female fighting out of Singapore.

With her passion for competing and her limited timeline, it seems that we should expect to see more of Tiffany Teo in the next couple of years.