ONE Championship 161: Tiffany Teo slams Angela Lee after making statement on atomweight debut
- Former strawweight challenger taps out Ritu Phogat inside one round on atomweight debut at ONE 161 on Thursday in Singapore
- ‘No Chill’ immediately sets sights on division’s long-time champion, blasting decision to give Lee another crack at strawweight title
Tiffany Teo is in hot pursuit of Angela Lee – in two ONE Championship weight classes.
The 32-year-old Singaporean, who has twice fought for strawweight gold, made her atomweight debut at ONE 161 on Thursday evening in Singapore, and ended up making quite a statement, tapping out Grand Prix finalist Ritu Phogat in the first round.
After her win, she called out the atomweight champion Lee. Yet if Lee defeats strawweight champion Xiong Jingnan at ONE on Prime Video 2 this Saturday, Teo could seemingly challenge the Canadian-American for the belt in either weight class.
“We’ll see how it goes,” she told the Post in Singapore, looking ahead to Lee’s fight with Xiong, which will headline Saturday’s card. “She’s fighting Xiong for the strawweight title. We’ll see how that plays out. I’m the top contender at strawweight, and now I’m at atomweight, so it has to happen either way.”
Some may argue that Teo (11-2) is undeserving of an atomweight title shot after just one win in the weight class, but the Singaporean notes that Lee (11-2) is fighting for the strawweight belt despite having lost to Xiong and Michelle Nicolini in her only two fights in the weight class.
“Let’s look at Angela,” she said. “She got her a** kicked in strawweight. Michelle beat her. ‘Panda’ [Xiong] beat her. She’s probably ranked like four or five. I don’t even know if she’s even ranked. She comes back, and she gets a shot for the strawweight title.”
“I want my shot at atomweight,” she added. “I think I deserve a shot at atomweight.”
