Written by Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Tatiana Suarez has wanted to become UFC champion ever since the first day she showed up for The Ultimate Fighter, but now she’s just days away from potentially realizing that dream.
At UFC 312, the former Olympic wrestling hopeful turned top MMA fighter faces Zhang Weili in the co-main event from Australia. Suarez has long been tagged as the future of the division but injuries have doomed much of her career with numerous long layoffs including a recent four year break between fights and then not competing at all during 2024.
So when the call came in that she was finally getting a title shot in February, Suarez’s reaction was actually a little surprising.
“I was like let’s do it,” Suarez told MMA Fighting. “Then my manager was like ‘are you happy?’ I’m like yes, I don’t know how to explain it. I don’t really show my true emotions to some people but to [my fiancé Patchy Mix] I’m like I’m so excited! But some people I’m just like for sure. Then I’m just thinking I can’t wait to go do this but he knows me. He knows I’m excited.”
While her initial enthusiasm may have been muted, Suarez really just recognized that there’s no time to celebrate getting the title fight because winning the championship is really the ultimate goal.
She enters the fight with a perfect 10-0 record in her career including seven straight wins in the UFC with five finishes along the way. Suarez has already taken out three former champions in Alexa Grasso, Carla Esparza and Jessica Andrade and she really hopes Zhang becomes the fourth.
Given Suarez’s tendency to finish her fights and Zhang’s non-stop action style, this upcoming title bout has the potential become an all-time classic. That’s at least part of the reason why Suarez believes her showdown against Zhang might be the real headliner at UFC 312 on Saturday.
“I think that she’s a great fighter and I look forward to implementing my game plan,” Suarez said. “I think I match up super well with her. I think that they’re saying this whole striker versus grappling thing. I don’t really think that’s a thing. I think she likes to grapple, too, so I think that’s going to go well. I look forward to the matchup.
“I think it’s going to be fireworks. I think we’re both go-getters. She doesn’t stand around. I don’t stand around. So it doesn’t make for a boring fight, I don’t think at all. I think we’re both going after it. We both want to win. We both work really, really hard. I think it makes for a good co-main event. I think it’s the real main event but we’re not big dudes so we didn’t get the main event slot.”
The “big dudes” this time around are Dricus du Plessis and Sean Strickland, who are meeting for the second time after their first encounter ended in a razor close decision back in January 2024.
Of course, Suarez doesn’t hold any ill will towards them or the UFC for putting the strawweight title fight as the co-main event because her job stays the name no matter where she’s at on the card.
“I don’t care. We could be the first fight,” Suarez said. “Obviously that would never happen because we’re a title fight but you know what I mean. I think this makes for a great fight. It’s going to be amazing. I’m going go ahead, I’m going to go out there and win the world title in a dominant fashion.”
If there’s one question looming overhead for Suarez isn’t her extended time off with her last appearance in the UFC coming all the way back in August 2023 when she submitted Jessica Andrade in the second round.
She’s started getting ready for other fights since that time but injuries once again prevented Suarez from mounting the kind of momentum she wanted after her initial return to action almost exactly two years ago.
But don’t expect her to come slow out of the gates or show any signs of ring rust once she’s in the octagon with Zhang standing across from her.
“I’m ready to go,” Suarez said. “For me, I train super hard every single week. I trust in my training. I’m usually the last one to leave every single workout. For me, I’m not thinking I didn’t train hard enough or I didn’t do this, I didn’t do that. That’s the last thing you want to feel going into a big fight.
“For me, I just trust in my training, know that I worked extremely, extremely hard. I’ve pushed myself super, super hard. I know that will get me my victory come [Saturday].”
Considering everything she’s gone through in her athletic career, Suarez never takes anything for granted.
She never got to achieve her biggest goal in wrestling at the Olympics because a neck injury eventually led to a cancer diagnosis that effectively ended her career. Suarez got a second chance when she transitioned into MMA but even that’s been a rocky road to travel at times.
So Suarez understands the magnitude of the moment ahead of her and she won’t waste a single second in her efforts to snatch the title away from Zhang at UFC 312.
“That’s just part of who I am,” Suarez said. “I don’t know about carrying [my past into this fight] but I just think that’s the person that I am. That’s shaped me into who I am. That’s my mind. That’s my mindset. My mom said I was like this from a young age. She knew this about me from a very, very young age. I don’t think that I’ve changed. I think that the road here has been this difficult only because it will be my legacy.
“At my brother’s school, that’s his motto: What will be your legacy? This will be my legacy. I didn’t have an easy path but I still made it happen for myself.”