Injury-jinxed fighter Tatiana Suarez will finally get a strawweight title shot against Weili Zhang in the co-main event of UFC 312 in February and the undefeated star has been speaking out about this long-awaited opportunity.
Suarez was originally scheduled to fight Virna Jandiroba at UFC 310 this month before being withdrawn and promoted to a title shot instead, and she’s relieved that the path to the belt has finally cleared.
“I’ve been good since June of this year,” Suarez said on the UFC Unfiltered show. “When you’re at the top of the division, for some reason it’s really hard to get fights, especially because there’s not that many matchups. When I was healthy, everybody was already matched up in the top 10, and they’re probably not going to do a top 15 against the No. 1 girl.
“I had asked for a fight, and I wanted to fight Weili in August or September, but she was busy with obligations that she had as a champion. Then that didn’t happen, and then we were going to fight Virna, and now we’re going to go ahead and fight Weili in February. But I’ve been good for a while now. I’ve been training hard, it’s just that we haven’t been able to get a fight because of the matchups and stuff. The division was kind of messed up. Everybody was matched up.”
Suarez first joined the UFC in 2016 after winning TUF Season 23, but due to unrelenting injury setbacks the former cancer-survivor has only managed to compete 7 times in the past 8 years. However, despite an almost four-year long layoff at one point she’s always managed to perform once she gets in the Octagon, extending her career record to 10-0 in the process, and that gives her a lot of confidence heading into her biggest fight yet.
“My mental strength is second to none,” Suarez said. “I think that plays a huge factor in fighting in general. When the bright lights shine, so do I. I always rise to the occasion, and I have so much experience in another sport, too. I wrestled my whole life. I’ve had so much pressure put on me my entire life.”
