Tiffany Teo scores Singapore’s first MMA Asian Games medal with semi-final spot

MMA fighter Tiffany Teo defeats Iran’s Arezou Salimighalehtaki in the women’s traditional 60kg quarter-final bout.

Published Sep 20, 2026, 03:33 PM

Updated Sep 20, 2026, 06:52 PM

Tiffany Teo won Singapore's first MMA Asian Games medal by reaching the semi-finals in the women's traditional 60kg category, securing at least a bronze medal.

Teo overcame initial nerves and concerns over accommodation issues, crediting sports psychologists and good conditions for her focus.

She aims for gold but focuses on one fight at a time, avoiding distraction from future matches to maintain her best performance.

NAGOYA – The song blaring from the speakers at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Centre could not have been more perfect for mixed martial arts fighter Tiffany Teo.

At 36 and making her debut at the Asian Games after a rocky few years in professional sport, Teo soaked in her victory on Sept 20 to the tune of New Genesis, Japanese singer Ado’s hit theme song from the anime movie One Piece Film: Red.

A new beginning was what this bout was about, as Teo beat her Iranian opponent Arezou Salimighalehtaki by unanimous decision in the women’s traditional 60kg quarter-final bout to claim Singapore’s first Asian Games medal in the sport.

With both losing semi-finalists awarded joint-bronze medals, Teo is assured of at least a medal regardless of the result of her semi-final against India’s Suchika Tariyal – who defeated Mongolia’s Altanchimeg Baigalmaa 2-0 in the quarterfinals – on Sept 21.

Teo said after her win that she felt “nervous” before her first fight of the Games, where MMA is also making its debut.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” said Teo, who is among 4,000 athletes and officials housed on the Italian cruise ship Costa Serena at the Games .

“Even before coming here, when I was in Singapore, I (read) a lot of online criticism about the Games, about the accommodation...about possible typhoons. It was a bit overwhelming being in Singapore. But that’s when working with sports psychologists came in handy, so I tried to focus on things which were within my control.”

“After coming here, I was very lucky to be on the cruise, and honestly, I felt really well taken care of. The food is great, the accommodation is great, and shuttle buses were on time for me. I didn’t have to wait at the airport for like 16 or like 20 hours. So I’m very thankful for that.”

After cruising to a comfortable opening victory – where all three judges scored the bout in her favour – Teo will fancy her chances in the semi-final as she resumes her hunt for gold.

At the Asian Mixed Martial Arts Championships in May, where Teo qualified for the Asiad, she had beaten Suchika en route to a silver medal in the traditional MMA women’s 60kg category.

The wiry fighter, who made her professional MMA debut in 2016, is on the comeback trail after a period in the wilderness. From 2016 to 2022, she posted an 8-2 record with One Championship but did not fight for nearly three years after. She only returned to the octagon in June 2025 with Chinese promotion JCK MMA.

And this time, the MMA artist known as “No Chill” is planning to keep it chill in Aichi-Nagoya.

Teo said: “I didn’t know who I was fighting. My team knew the entire bout list, but I asked them not to tell me (because) I’m not interested. I just want to focus on one match at a time because if I know who’s in finals or semi-finals, I can’t do anything with that information. It’s just going to stress me out and make me overthink more.

“Getting a gold medal is the end goal. But on the flip side, I’m trying not to let the outcome define how I’m going to perform because I feel like very often when we get too fixated on the outcome, you divert yourself from the process. I’m just focussing on things within my control and just bring my best effort, my best skill set to the tournament and I strongly believe that by doing that, I’ll get to the gold medal.”

Deepanraj Ganesan is a sports correspondent at The Straits Times focusing on football, athletics, combat sports and policy-related news.

MMA 选手 Tiffany Teo 在女子 60 公斤级四分之一决赛中击败了伊朗选手 Arezou Salimighalehtaki。

发布于 2026 年 9 月 20 日下午 3:33

更新于2026年9月20日下午6:52

Tiffany Teo 在女子传统 60 公斤级比赛中进入半决赛，为新加坡赢得了第一枚亚运会 MMA 奖牌，至少获得了一枚铜牌。

Teo克服了最初的紧张和对住宿问题的担忧，她将自己的专注归功于运动心理学家和良好的环境。

她以夺金为目标，但专注于一场一场的比赛，避免被未来的比赛分心，以保持最佳状态。

名古屋——名古屋市稻江体育中心扬声器里播放的歌曲，对于综合格斗选手蒂芙尼·特奥来说，再合适不过了。

36 岁的张智妍在经历了几年职业体育生涯的坎坷后，首次亮相亚运会。9 月 20 日，她沉浸在胜利的喜悦中，背景音乐是​​日本歌手 Ado 为动画电影《海贼王：红色》演唱的热门主题曲《New Genesis》。

这场比赛象征着一个新的开始，在女子60公斤级传统四分之一决赛中，张以一致判定击败了伊朗对手阿雷祖·萨利米加莱塔基，为新加坡赢得了该项目在亚运会上的第一枚奖牌。

由于两名半决赛失利的选手都获得了并列铜牌，因此无论 9 月 21 日与印度选手苏奇卡·塔里亚尔（她在四分之一决赛中以 2-0 击败了蒙古选手阿尔坦奇梅格·拜加尔玛）的半决赛结果如何，特奥至少都能获得一枚奖牌。

Teo在获胜后表示，在参加本届奥运会的首场比赛之前，她感到“紧张”，MMA也是本届奥运会的首项比赛。

“我不知道会发生什么，”特奥说道。他是奥运会期间住在意大利歌诗达塞雷纳号游轮上的 4000 名运动员和官员之一。

“甚至在来这里之前，我在新加坡的时候，就看到网上有很多关于奥运会、住宿条件以及可能发生的台风的批评。在新加坡的时候，这些信息让我有点不知所措。但正是在这个时候，与运动心理学家合作派上了用场，所以我努力专注于那些我能控制的事情。”

“来到这里之后，我很幸运能参加这次邮轮之旅，说实话，我感觉自己受到了很好的照顾。食物很棒，住宿条件也很好，接驳巴士也很准时。我不用在机场等上16到20个小时。所以我对此非常感激。”

在轻松取得首场胜利后——三位裁判都判她获胜——特奥将在半决赛中继续向金牌发起冲击，她对自己的机会充满信心。

在五月份举行的亚洲综合格斗锦标赛上，张（Teo）获得了亚运会的参赛资格，她在传统的MMA女子60公斤级比赛中击败了苏奇卡（Suchika），最终获得银牌。

这位身材精瘦的选手于2016年首次亮相职业MMA赛场，在经历了一段沉寂期后，她正努力重返赛场。从2016年到2022年，她在ONE冠军赛取得了8胜2负的战绩，但之后近三年没有参加比赛。直到2025年6月，她才重返八角笼，加盟了中国JCK MMA赛事。

而这一次，这位被称为“No Chill”的MMA选手计划在爱知县名古屋市保持冷静。

Teo说：“我不知道我的对手是谁。我的团队知道全部的对阵名单，但我让他们不要告诉我，因为我不感兴趣。我只想专注于每一场比赛，因为如果我知道谁进入了决赛或半决赛，这些信息对我没有任何帮助。只会让我压力更大，想得更多。”

“获得金牌是我的最终目标。但另一方面，我尽量不让结果左右我的表现，因为我觉得很多时候，当我们过于执着于结果时，就会忽略过程。我只想专注于自己能控制的事情，尽我所能，发挥出最佳水平，我坚信只要这样做，我就能赢得金牌。”

Deepanraj Ganesan 是《海峡时报》的体育记者，主要报道足球、田径、格斗运动和政策相关新闻。