(James Goyder is the owner/editor of AsianMMA.com)
Tiffany Teo now has eight ONE Championship wins to her name. The Singaporean made a successful start to life in the atomweight division at ONE 161 with a submission win over Ritu Phogat.
The only two losses of Teo’s career came in strawweight title fights against current champion Xiong Jing Nan. Having established herself at the number one contender in that division she decided to drop down in weight.
As a result Teo towered over Ritu Phogat at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Thursday night (local time). The Singaporean landed some heavy low kicks in the opening exchanges although Phogat did score with a right hand.
Teo 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 relative ease.
Teo had her back against the cage as Phogat worked for the single leg. But the Singaporean kept her composure and used a wide base to prevent her opponent from getting enough leverage.
From there Teo attempted to grab Phogat’s right arm and promptly took the Indian’s back. There were three minutes remaining in the round giving the Singaporean plenty of time to sink in the submission.
Teo had both hooks in and looked on the verge of finishing the fight but Phogat was able to peel her arms off. But there was no escape and the Singaporean eventually secured a body triangle with both feet locked around the Indian’s midriff.
Phogat rolled over and found herself face down on the canvass but Teo still had her back. After softening her up with some knees to the head the Singaporean locked in another rear naked choke and this time there was no escape.
The tap came at the 4:52 mark with Teo securing the fifth submission win of her career. She improves to 11-2 and moves immediately into atomweight title contention while Phogat drops to 7-3.
Best of the rest
Saygid Izagakhmaev (21-2) used his wrestling to control Zhang Lipeng (33-12) for three rounds. The #5 ranked Russian claimed a clear cut decision win to move closer to a potential title shot in the lightweight division.
Oumar Kane (4-1) got back to winning ways with a second round stoppage win over Batradz Gazzaev (3-1). The Senegalese star mounted his opponent and rained down punches until the referee had no option but to step in and call off the contest.
ONE 161, Singapore, September 29th
- Petchmorakot Petchyindee (c) vs. Tawanchai PKSaenchaigym (For Featherweight Title)
- Kickboxing: Roman Kryklia vs. Guto Inocente (Heavyweight Grand Prix Semi Finals)
- Kickboxing: Iraj Azizpour def. Bruno Chaves via Decision (Unanimous)
- Saygid Izagakhmaev def. Zhang Lipeng via Decision (Unanimous)
- Tiffany Teo def. Ritu Phogat via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 4:52 of R1
- Alaverdi Ramazanov def. Captain Petchyindee via Decision (Split)
- Sangmanee PKSaenchaigym def. Zhang Chenglong via Decision (Split)
- Oumar Kane def.. Batradz Gazzaev via TKO (Punches) at 2:15 of R2
- Muay Thai: Ferrari Fairtex def. Han Zi Hao via Decision (Unanimous)
Tiffany Teo submits Ritu Phogat in the first round at ONE 161
