Ritu Phogat is unfazed by the defeat in her previous fight. On the contrary, she can barely contain her excitement at the idea of returning to action once again following a long injury layoff. Phogat is scheduled to take on Tiffany Teo of Singapore in a ONE 161 clash on September 29 in Singapore.

The Indian wrestler turned Mixed Martial Arts fighter will be returning to the cage for the first time since she competed in the final of the ONE Women’s Atomweight World Grand Prix in December last year. Boasting a 7-2 win-loss record in her relatively fledgling MMA career so far with three knockout wins and four wins by decision to her name, Phogat will square off with Teo in the atomweight category.

“I will be back in the ring after 8-9 months. The fight against Tiffany is going to be very entertaining, it’s going to be fight between grappler and a grappler,” Phogat said during a virtual media interaction on Wednesday.
“My opponent is a top fighter, she is the number one contender in atomweight. I have accepted her challenge. She is very experienced. My team and I have made game plans for her.”

A Commonwealth Games gold medallist for India in wrestling, Ritu hails from the famous Phogat wrestling family. Trained by her father Mahavir Singh Phogat, which was the subject of the superhit 2016 film Dangal, Ritu is the younger sister of Geeta and Babita Phogat. Vinesh Phogat is her cousin and all four members of the family have won Commonwealth Games gold medals in their respective categories in wrestling.

She has been struggling with a shoulder injury lately which she suffered in her most recent loss. “I have learnt a lot from that loss. I injured my shoulder also so I wanted to recover completely and now I’m ready. I have implemented a lot of new things in my game,” she went on to add.

Phogat has also mentioned that she’s not bothered about the fight being held at Tiffany Teo’s home ground in Singapore. She has also reiterated her desire to become an MMA world champion.
“My only goal is to become India’s first woman world champion in MMA,” Phogat signed off.