The unbeaten Strom weight Challenger has overcome several major setbacks that her curtain call could have been.
Many Vecht fans have expected for a number of years that Tatiana Suarez would sooner or later find herself in position to challenge a UFC title.
Several important injury issues have led her upcoming collision with the defensive 115-pound champion Zhang Weili on UFC 312 has long been in the making, despite her perfect 10-0 record.
When Suarez takes the walk in the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, it must have been 554 days since she was last entering the Octagon, but this dismissal is just the tip of the iceberg.
It is proof of her unmistakable will and talent that she has persisted by so many difficult moments to slowly but surely find in the spotlight on 8 February.
Tatiana Suarez fought twice in five years with a gap between 1,359 days in her career
Before Tatiana Suarez even made her pro debut in MMA, she had already overcome a huge adversity in life.
Her promising wrestling career in which her training for the 2012 Olympic Games was terminated was terminated due to a neck injury with scans that she also had thyroid cancer.
She conquered this with treatment and eventually found her way to mixed martial arts, with a 3-0 record giving her the opportunity to compete in the 23rd season of the Ultimate Fighter.
Suarez's first major injury since winning Tuf came after her fifth consecutive victory in the Octagon where she defeated Nina Nunes after beating the future and former champions in Alexa Grasso and Carla Esparza.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
The victory over Nunes confirmed her as a title candidate, but after they had entered the competition with a neck injury, all hope of this victory would be delayed for two years.
A return in 2021 against Roxane Modafferi was entering UFC 266 in Las Vegas, but a knee injury ensured that Suarez seriously considered whether she would go back to the Octagon.
After having spent 1,359 days on the side lines, the Californier made her back and he submitted Montana de la Rosa to flying weight before returning to 115 pounds.
A submission of victory over another former champion in Jessica Andrade announced her return to the Strowegen and after two canceled fights against Amanda Lemos and Virna Jandiroba, the UFC made the call to elevate Suarez in a title fight that take her take on the dominant champion See this Saturday.
The remarkable story of the Challenger has even been documented in an HBO documentary that was released last year called “The Unbreakable Tatiana Suarez”.
Tatiana Suarez is no stranger to come back from long breaks
Together with the fact that she takes an elite competitor in the Chinese Zhang Weili, the greatest concern that this weekend hangs above Tatiana Suarez will be the long break between fighting.
That said, if there is a hunter on the Roster who has a track record to overcome this obstacle, this is the 34-year-old.
Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty images for HBO
Her last outing in August 2023 was exactly the kind of ruthlessness that fans made enthusiastic about Suarez after she had protected the Guillotine Choke against Andrade.
The dethron of the 115 pound champion on 8 February is already a huge task, regardless of whether or not you have been consistently active or not.
For Suarez she never had things in the easy way, so it's nothing new that these extra opportunities have stacked against her.
Comments