5 Things You Might Not Know About Tiffany Teo

Well-kept secrets sometimes come in small packages.

A key figure in the One Championship women’s atomweight division, Tiffany Teo will square off with decorated Indian wrestler Ritu Phogat in a three-round ONE 161 feature on Thursday at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. The 32-year-old Teo has compiled a 7-2 record since she linked arms with the Chatri Sityodtong-fronted organization in 2016. She last appeared at ONE “Heavy Hitters,” where she submitted Meng Bo—the first woman to defeat former Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s strawweight titleholder Weili Zhang—with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their Jan. 14 confrontation.

As Teo pores over the remaining details associated with her looming clash against Phogat at 115 pounds, here are five things you might not know about her:

1. She has covered considerable distance.

Teo was born in Brunei, a small country of less than 500,000 people and the only sovereign nation on the island of Borneo, which sits between the Philippines and Malaysia. She moved to Singapore before she reached school age and remains there to this day.

2. Interests outside the cage provide a safety net.

“No Chill” graduated with a degree in psychology from the University of Buffalo’s Singapore Institute of Management. Teo worked as a research coordinator and behavioral therapist for special-needs children before focusing on a full-time career in mixed martial arts.

3. A late start had no negative implications.

Teo made her pro debut at the age of 26 when she knocked out Nur Athirah Tatiana with a front kick at Singapore Fighting Championship 2 on Feb. 20, 2016. She went on to win her first seven fights with five finishes, four of them inside one round.

4. Her failures have been few.

Only one woman has managed to crack the Teo code: Jingnan Xiong, the current ONE women’s strawweight champion. In fact, Xiong has beaten her twice. She cut down Teo with punches in the fourth round of their ONE “Kings of Courage” main event on Jan. 20, 2018 and laid claim to a five-round unanimous decision in their ONE “Inside the Matrix” rematch.

5. She diversifies her training.

Teo operates out of Matrix MMA, a Singapore gym run by coaches Major Overall, Bartosz Skrok, Kai Xiong Sim, Wayne Kwan and Dom Chen. She has also spent time at Tiger Muay Thai in Thailand.