If there was any question before, there isn’t now: Tatiana
Suarez is back.
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Viewed as a future title contender during her rise to prominence in
the UFC from 2016 to 2019, injuries halted Suarez’s momentum and
sidelined her until earlier this year. The 32-year-old Millennia
MMA representative has made up for lost time, earning submission
wins over Montana
De La Rosa and Jessica
Andrade in 2023. The latter was especially impressive, as
Suarez outclassed Andrade, a former 115-pound champion, in the UFC
on ESPN 50 co-main event before winning via second-round guillotine
choke at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday night. Even before the
finish arrived, Suarez was able to hold her own with Andrade during
exchanges.
“I’m just really excited about this one, because I think a lot of
people fear her on the feet. That’s where she has her most success,
and of course, me, I decided to strike with her a lot more than I
do in all my other fights,” Suarez said at Saturday’s post-fight
press conference.
“If you watch my fights, I always get a takedown in the first
minute of every fight I’ve ever had. I didn’t do that this fight.
… My game plan is whatever comes natural to me, and for some
reason, it came natural to me. I felt like I had the better
footwork. I felt like I had the better strikes, too. People told
me, ‘Remember you’re the scary one. She’s feared, but so are
you.’”
Of course, Suarez’s strength is her grappling, and while she
outstruck Andrade, she also went 3-for-3 on takedowns before
securing the fight-ending submission. It was something Suarez
expected she would be able to do against her Brazilian
opponent.
“I think where I shine, obviously, is I’m a very good grappler, and
I think she turns her back and I have a lot of submissions — I have
a tight squeeze,” Suarez said. “I can pull things off that a lot of
women can’t because I have wrestled my whole entire life. I had a
really good front headlock when I was wrestling and a lot of men
tell me how tight my squeeze is. So I was I was happy that I could
get a submission win – another guillotine on my record. I’m just
really excited about it. I felt like I could submit her.”
Though the timeline is disjointed due to injury, Suarez owns a
seven-fight winning streak in UFC competition. She believes she has
earned the right to fight for a title, whether it’s at strawweight
against the Weili
Zhang–Amanda
Lemos winner or at 125 pounds, where Alexa
Grasso and Valentina
Shevchenko are set for a rematch on Sept. 16.
“I think I match up well against them,” Suarez said. “I think I
match up well against everybody. I think I’m going to be a world
champion. I think I’m the best in the world, and I’m going for that
strap. So whatever they want to give me, I’ll make it happen. But I
do believe that I deserve to fight for the title.”