ritu-phogat-vs-tiffany-toe

Picture Credit: Twitter

India's prominent wrestler cum MMA star Ritu Phogat lost to Singapore's Tiffany Teo in an atomweight clash at the ONE Championship's ONE 161: Petchmorakot vs Tawanchai event in Singapore on Thursday. Ritu was outdone by Tiffany by submission with a rear-naked choke, with eight seconds left in the first round. The 28-year-old had not featured in the Championship since loss in the atomweight championship final against Stamp Fairtex on December 3, 2021.

Meanwhile, Tiffany Teo was making her mark in the atomweight division for the first time, having been two-time contender in the strawweight category in the past. The atomweight bout was Teo's second outing of the year following a dazzling choke submission finish against Chinese knockout artist Meng Bo at ONE: Heavy Hittaers. 

In an exclusive interview with ONE Championship, Teo earlier claimed that she was not worried of Phogat's rich background of wrestling and said, "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."

Speaking of the game, Teo landed some heavy low kicks in the opening exchanges although Phogat did score with a right hand. She landed a solid right kick to the midsection but the Indian was able to catch her next kick and immediately worked for a single leg takedown. 

The two-time strawweight title challenger stuffed it with so much of ease. Teo had her back against the cage as Phogat worked for the single leg but the opponent grabbed her left arm and looked to sink. Teo made an attempt to grab Phogat’s right arm and locked in a kimura but from there she was able to take the Indian’s back. With three minutes remaining, the round time was very much on the Singaporean’s side.