MMA
"A new Indian tigress will hit MMA cage," Ritu Phogat gears up for return
Coming from a break of eight months, Indian MMA star Ritu Phogat is confident about her return to the cage against Tiffany Teo of Singapore.
Indian MMA athlete Ritu Phogat (Source: ESPN)
One of the rising superstars in Indian MMA and known as "The Indian Tigress", Ritu Phogat is returning to the cage of One Championship after a long layoff after surgery.
Ritu will be taking on Tiffany Teo of Singapore on 29th September in the One 161 scheduled at Singapore Indoor Stadium, Kallang, Singapore on her return.
In her first full season at MMA, Ritu was very close to her dream of becoming the first World Champion in MMA from India but a close loss to World number 1 Stamp Fairtex in the finals meant she needs to come back stronger.
"Win and loss are part of the game. I have already wrestled at the top level and it is all the part and parcel of the game. On the contrary, the loss against Stamp made me mentally strong and I am better than ever now. You will see a new version of the Indian Tigress battling in the cage this time," said a confident Ritu.
Belonging to the famous Phogat family of wrestlers, Ritu switched to Mixed Martial Art in 2019 after representing India on the international level in freestyle wrestling.
Talking about why she chose to switch from wrestling to MMA, Ritu said, "My ambition was to do something different and become the first Indian to be an MMA world champion. It is not much different, you have to learn a few techniques and train the way MMA is fought. Coming from wrestling, I already had most of the moves and techniques in place as it is easy for wrestlers to grapple and takedown opponents."
Ritu's opponent Tiffany Teo who belongs to the Strawweight category has called out Ritu as her perfect matchup for a fight. "My opponent is an experienced campaigner and I have my strategies in place to tackle her game. I am coming back from a long lay-off and it has helped me recover completely," said Ritu while talking about her opponent.
Ritu Phogat has a record of 7-2 in her MMA career with three knockout wins and four wins by decision. She will be ready to increase the winning count on 29th September against Tiffany Teo.
