MMA fighter Tiffany Teo On Pursuing An Unconventional Career And Overcoming Defeat
One Championship fighter Tiffany Teo put her job as a behavioral therapist on hold to pursue her dream of becoming a martial artist. She tells us more about her journey as one of Singapore's top female MMA fighters.
By Michelle Lee SM -
Making her professional debut in early 2016, Singapore fighter Tiffany Teo is one of the shining stars of the local MMA scene. Starting out with Muay Thai, she later progressed to boxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and eventually MMA; she now holds a record of nine wins and one loss.
While the 31-year-old suffered her first professional loss in the sport to Chinese fighter Xiong Jing Nan in 2018, the local athlete later made a remarkable comeback with a victory over eight-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion Michelle Nicolini in 2018 as well as Japan's Ayaka Miura in February this year. She will next face Xiong Jing Nan again on Oct 30 to contend for the One Championship World Title in the women's strawweight division.
The Singapore Women's Weekly swung by her gym for a quick chat, and she sheds light on how she's preparing for her upcoming title fight, how she dealt with the lowest point of her career and her future plans after retiring from the sport.
TT: During the Circuit Breaker, I had a lot of time to think through this, as it was a very uncertain time, especially for combat sports. I weighed my options, and also thought of pursuing my masters as I thought I wouldn't be able to compete at least until a year later. I was kind of glad when One Championship told me they got the green light from the government to go ahead with the fight.
So for now, my priority is on fight sports, and I'd probably go back to doing my masters after I retire. Then I'll consider doing either sports psychology or counselling psychology.
TT: I did a lot of drills and resistance training on my own, and borrowed some kettlebells from the gym — I mainly just tried to keep fit.
My teammate Kai Xiong and I exchanged videos on various techniques and he helped analyse my videos as well as gave feedback on what I could improve on. With the Covid-19 restrictions in place, it's hard to work on my grappling techniques, which is an important aspect of MMA, so the training isn't the most ideal. But we make do with what we can. On the bright side, everyone in Singapore is going through the same circumstances, so the playing field is somewhat levelled.
What are some of the toughest setbacks you've faced in your career and how did you overcome them? Have you ever considered quitting?
TT: One was definitely my loss against Xiong Jing Nan, which was the first strawweight title I fought for. It was also the very first loss in my MMA career. After the fight, I did think about quitting. There were many injuries I had to take care of, including surgery for my cauliflower ear — it wasn't serious but it got infected repeatedly, and I had to stay in the hospital for a week. There was a tear in my retina, which could have been a cumulative result of past trainings and fights.
I was forced to take a break, but this was a blessing in disguise as it gave me time to think about what I really wanted, and whether to pursue this. There were obviously big holes in my game that I had to address. I took a break from martial arts for a while, and delved more into fitness, like yoga. Yoga and meditation didn't just help with my recovery, but also helped to improve my mental state.
I asked different people and training partners for feedback on my performance, and what I should work on and look out for. I also worked with my main MMA coach, Major Overall, to learn how to put everything together.