“Her strength will be her weakness” - Tiffany Teo not worried about Ritu Phogat’s legendary wrestling

Top-ranked strawweight contender Tiffany Teo foresees another predictable outcome between herself and another world-class ground specialist.

Tiffany ‘No Chill’ Teo and India’s wrestling champion Ritu Phogat are slated to lock horns at ONE 161: Petchmorakot vs. Tawanchai on September 29 inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The atomweight bout will be Teo’s second outing of the year following a dazzling rear-naked choke submission finish against Chinese knockout artist Meng Bo at ONE: Heavy Hitters.

Having had fighting experience against elite grapplers and judo wrestlers in the last six years, Teo isn’t worried by the famed wrestling background of ‘The Indian Tigress’.

In an exclusive interview with ONE Championship, the Singapore native explained to fans that oftentimes, specialists inadvertently shoot themselves in the foot by depending only on their bread and butter to end fights, a strategy Teo typically likes to exploit.

‘No Chill’ said:

"Michelle [Nicolini] and Ayaka [Miura], they’re kind of like, specialists. Michelle, she’s a black belt, she’s an eight-time jiu-jitsu world champion while Ayaka is good in judo and has that trademark scarfhold finish-kimura lock. So their strengths ironically becomes their weaknesses, right? Because you know that’s what they will try to do best - the only thing they have in their arsenal. If Plan A doesn’t work, they only have Plan A, they don’t have Plan B. So for Ritu, ironically, her strength will be her weakness too.”

Tiffany Teo is ready to showcase her well-rounded skill set against Phogat. She’s relentless in her pursuit of victory, which will make it difficult for the Indian wrestler to close the distance and exercise her game plan.

Moreover, ‘No Chill’s affinity to Brazilian jiu-jitsu will be key to outmaneuvering Phogat on the ground. Phogat’s wrestling was ineffective against Stamp Fairtex’s jiu-jitsu in her last outing with the Thai superstar, which is something that shouldn’t be overlooked.

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Rewatch Tiffany Teo’s heroic performance against Xiong Jing Nan

Back in October 2020, Tiffany Teo fell to strawweight world titleholder Xiong Jing Nan in her second bid for gold, but not without giving Xiong a good run for her money.

The Singapore warrior put on a heroic display of grit and willpower as she went the full distance with the Chinese power puncher. Teo promised fans a better and improved version of herself after being knocked out in their first world title match at ONE: Kings of Courage in 2018.

Tiffany Teo absolutely delivered in G.I. Jane fashion. Despite her defeat, Teo won fans over with her courageous performance on that eventful night.

Rewatch the full fight below: