If a teenaged Tiffany “No Chill” Teo could see her adult counterpart, she would be unrecognizable. As a young girl, the Singaporean martial arts standout was heavily involved in choir activities, which she participated in for a decade.
“I was a nerd when I was
a kid. I was not very active,” Teo shared in jest. Today, Teo is the polar
opposite as she traded in her songbooks and rehearsal rooms for a pair of
four-ounce gloves and the gym. Teo went from a quiet,
unassuming choir girl to becoming a renowned strawweight martial arts prospect
with an impressive record of 7-0.
The winding road to ONE
Championship began in the oddest of places — in front of the television screen.
Teo’s interest in martial arts, Muay Thai specifically, was stoked by popular
reality show The Contender Asia. Motivated by the
aforementioned television program and a brief stint in Taekwondo, Teo made her
way to a Singapore gym to start training in the “art of eight limbs” nearly
eight years ago.
What started out as a
way to stay in shape quickly turned into requests for Teo to test out her
skills against real competition. “I had no plans to
compete,” she revealed. “My coaches kept asking. They wanted me to go to
Thailand. I thought it was a crazy idea. ‘You want me to go face a girl that
has been doing it all her life?’” Teo turned down the
opportunity test herself in Thailand, and, after training for two years, she
put Muay Thai on the shelf completely as she packed her bags and headed to the
United States to study Psychology at the University of Buffalo, where she
graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
However, school was far
from enough to keep Teo from wondering “what if” in terms of martial arts
competition. As each day passed, the fire in her to compete grew stronger. With a full life prior
to heading to the United States, there was simply no time for her to train, but
after concluding her studies, the window opened again. Teo returned to
Singapore and dove head-first into the amateur martial arts scene after just a
month of training. What was meant to be a
one-time experience that she could cross off her bucket list soon turned into
something more serious, all because she lost.
“I hate losing,” Teo
bared. “I decided to re-evaluate what I did wrong, and I wanted to continue.”
A far cry from her days
in the choir, Teo’s journey to perfect her craft in martial arts progressed
quickly. After immersing herself
with Muay Thai and boxing, Teo dabbled in the famous grappling discipline of
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Before she knew it, the
Singaporean was on the road to a full-fledged professional mixed martial arts
career.
“I fell in love with martial
arts. There is more to it than throwing strikes and grappling with your
training partner on the mat. It empowers me every single day,” Teo stressed. From the amateur to the
professional ranks, there was one battle that Teo fought for every single match
that she was booked for: winning the approval of her parents.
“They did not like the
fact that I am competing,” she said. “Since day one, they asked me why I wanted
to do it. ‘You cannot be a normal person with a nine-to-five job?’ They have
let it go, but I know they do not like it. They wanted me to settle down and
live a normal life.”
After having her hand
raised in seven professional bouts inside the cage, Teo has received the
biggest opportunity of her perfect martial arts career as she is scheduled to
clash with “The Panda” Xiong Jing Nan for the inaugural ONE Women’s Strawweight
World Championship.
Both women are set to
collide in the main event of ONE: KINGS OF COURAGE, which takes place at the
Jakarta Convention Center in Indonesia on 20 January. The 28-year-old
Singaporean title contender can make history on that fateful night, but she
knows that it will not be easy.
“It takes a lot of
discipline and hard work to be a world champion. We see how people change after
they become the champion, so I feel like you need to stay humble, grounded, and
continue to work hard,” she stated. Although Xiong is
widely-regarded as one of China’s finest woman warriors, Teo is confident in
her ability to win as she is preparing for all possible scenarios for her
first-ever martial arts world title contest.
“I feel a knockout or
submission is possible. 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,” she explained. “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 added.
Teo is 100 percent
focused on becoming the first-ever ONE Women’s Strawweight World Champion and
the second ONE World Champion to fly the Singapore flag, especially after
earning her parents’ approval. With his family and
friends behind her, Teo envisions victory at ONE: KINGS OF COURAGE against her
Chinese opponent.
“They are changing their
attitude, and it is really nice having the support of my parents. I am really
happy about it. Now, I am so motivated to win and bring home the belt,” she
ended.
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