ONE Championship: Tiffany Teo says ‘The Panda’ Xiong Jingnan won’t know what to expect at Inside The Matrix
- Singaporean set for return clash with strawweight champ Xiong on home soil
- ‘I feel like I am a wild card for her. She just doesn’t know what I have changed,’ says Teo
The world will finally get to see Tiffany Teo 2.0 when the Singaporean tries to wrest the ONE Championship strawweight crown from Xiong Jingnan as part of the Inside the Matrix card on Friday night.
What – exactly – constitutes the upgrade for 30-year-old “No Chill” remains a mystery and Teo (9-1) said she had made sure that the Chinese champion (14-2) for one won’t know what to expect.
“I feel like I am a wild card for her,” said Teo. “The last two fights I fought grapplers. She’ll be the first striker I’ve been up against since I lost to her, so she just doesn’t know what I have changed, how I am going to fight, how I can now match up against a striker. She won’t know what to expect.”
The first time the pair met – on the Kings of Courage card in January, 2018 – Teo had been on a 7-0 tear but found “The Panda” a far different proposition to her previous opponents. The former boxing stand-out gave Teo a thorough working over before the fight was called a TKO at 2:17 of the fourth.
There’s only been two fights since for Teo – over the ensuing two and a half years – but the work she has been putting in was showcased when she was too much for veteran Brazilian Michelle Nicolini (6-2) over three rounds, and when she then overpowered Japanese star Ayaka Miura (10-3, one no contest) as the third drew to a close.
“After the loss I was forced to focus on my game, on what I was doing and on where I wanted the sport to take me,” said Teo. “I looked at my weaknesses. The past two years have given me the time to go over these loopholes.”