One of Us is a video series featuring regular people in Singapore who are out there pursuing their passions and dreams. Some have already made it, while others are still fighting the good fight to realise their goals.

We hope that through this series, Singaporeans can realise that finding success or making a small mark in this world is not something reserved only for a select few.

This is Tiffany Teo’s story.

She only began her mixed martial arts (MMA) career in February last year, but holds a perfect record of six wins to date.

Despite her family and friends’ objections to her pursuing MMA for a living, she decided to go for it anyway -- and now, the 27-year-old is a professional MMA fighter signed to ONE Championship, the biggest MMA promotion and sports media property in Asia, who has also signed MMA champions such as Angela Lee and Bibiano Fernandes.

Deciding to go pro

Fighting started out as a hobby for Tiffany when she was 18 -- she had only intended to exercise and keep fit. She first dabbled in other combat sports like boxing, Muay Thai and Brazilian jiu-jitsu before going into MMA.

Taking part in an actual fight in a competition was just another tick off her bucket list. As she had a lot of friends who were fighters, she was always supporting their fights and wanted to experience for herself what it was like to be in the ring.

After finishing her degree in psychology, she held a research-related job at a local university. However, a year into it, she realised that she wasn’t happy.

She recounts, “I didn’t enjoy the job at all. I knew that I couldn’t stay in this job, so I decided to leave. I knew that I didn’t want to do this for the rest of my life.”

Leaving her full-time job opened up more time for her to train, and gave her more fight opportunities. Over time, her passion soon became her career.

Parents: “Too painful” to watch her fight

Not all parents would be happy if they are told that their child wanted to pursue an unconventional career.

“They thought it was pretty cool at first, but their attitude changed when I told them I wanted to pursue this professionally and have it as my job,” Tiffany says.

She recalls her first ONE Championship fight where she invited her parents to watch her in action, but they left immediately after her round. Her friend who was with her parents told her, “Your mum told me it was too painful to watch you fight.”

Thankfully, her parents are now more accepting about her fighting career. They check up on her, and even give her fight advice. She says of her father, “He has no experience in martial arts but he tells me, ‘Oh, you’ve got to start doing this…’ It’s kind of funny!”

Life as a professional MMA fighter

Tiffany trains five to six times a week, and her trainings can go from one to one and a half hours per session. Her personal fighting heroes are UFC fighter Dominick Cruz and Olympic boxer Claressa Shields.

What drives her is the feeling of fighting in the ring, and the adrenaline rush she gets from it. She says, “I just can’t help dreaming the same dream. After every fight, I just want to fight again. I keep looking forward to my next, be it an MMA fight, or a BJJ tournament.”

But the real question is: does she turn into the Incredible Hulk when she gets angry?

Nope.

“In real life, if I get into conflict or arguments, I won’t attack the person physically. Even if someone tries to attack me physically, I will try to find a solution to not get physical. As a trained professional fighter, we can inflict a lot of damage if we wanted to. This is a responsibility that we should have.”

Is she happy? Definitely. Tiffany says that she wakes up every day doing what she loves, something that everyone wants -- pursuing what they’re truly passionate about.

You can watch the video of her story here: