“She was really going for it” - Tiffany Teo thinks Xiong Jing Nan had a more calculated approach in third fight with Angela Lee

ONE atomweight contender Tiffany Teo believes Xiong Jing Nan accomplished everything she set out to do against her long-time rival at ONE on Prime Video 2.

On September 30, Xiong Jing Nan defeated Angela Lee by unanimous decision to retain her strawweight gold. After a closely contested match, some fans are still divided by the outcome.

Tiffany Teo, however, believes the doubts are unfair. Speaking to ONE Championship, Teo was asked if ‘The Panda‘ "played to lose"- a quote Angela Lee used before the fight accusing Xiong of evading opponents to win matches.

‘No Chill’ replied to those claims and said:

“No, I don’t think so. I feel that she’s a lot more vicious with her strikes this time around. She was really going for it. She might not be as aggressive as she used to be, but I feel like she’s picking her shots more, and when it landed, it really landed. A lot of overhands and hooks landed clean. I got to give Angela that, she has a really good chin. She also has a pretty durable face, for real, considering the shots that she was taking. Those were a lot of clean shots, man, damn!”

Right from the offset, Xiong Jing Nan seemed more aggressive than usual, immediately landing powerful shots to the head which wobbled the atomweight queen in round one. Mid-way through the fight, it seemed like Angela Lee found her footing and returned the pressure by working Xiong in the clinch.

But contrary to what many fans believe, Xiong’s takedown defense superseded Angela Lee’s efforts of ending the fight on the ground. To her credit, Lee eventually landed a takedown in the championship round, but Xiong didn’t stay down long enough to be in any real danger.

Ultimately, whether you’re on this side or that side, it’s fair game; typically the athlete with the most strategic game plan usually wins the day.

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Tiffany Teo knows first-hand how hard Xiong Jing Nan hits

It seems like Tiffany Teo sympathizes with 'Unstoppable' as she’s also been a target of Xiong Jing Nan’s power-punches.

Teo met Xiong on two separate occasions. The first time was in 2018 for the inaugural ONE strawweight world championship and the second time was in 2020 at ONE: Inside the Matrix.

Losing both times to Xiong, Teo remains grateful for those opportunities as they’ve given her the motivation to grow and analyze her weaknesses.

In an interview with Combat Press, Tiffany Teo explained:

“Let’s be honest, the first time around, I got totally rocked. I wasn’t ready for that fight at all. The first time I fought her, I was just in pure survival mode. I’m glad I took that fight, even though I lost. I feel like that fight made a huge impact in my fight career. I came to a point where I realized that there were so many holes in my game, and that there’s a lot of things I had to address.”