After another title fight victory at UFC 300, there’s an undefeated contender who is desperate for the next shot at ‘Magnum’ Zhang Weili’s strawweight belt.
As Zhang Weili’s reign of terror over the UFC strawweight division continues in impressive fashion, there’s an undefeated contender who is not only calling out the champion in a big way but also claims that she’ll finish ‘Magnum’ inside the distance.
Zhang Weili defended her strawweight title at UFC 300
Zhang Weili successfully defended her strawweight world championship at UFC 300 earlier this month with a hard-fought decision victory over fellow Chinese star Yan Xiaonan; albeit appearing to choke out the challenger at the very end of the first round.
After ‘Magnum’ was able to out-point Xiaonan over the course of 25 minutes, the top of the strawweight tree started to look rather bare, with only a handful of contenders left standing in Weili’s wake.
Yet there’s one surging contender who not only believes she can wrestle away the title from Weili later this year, but that she can submit the dominant champion inside the early rounds; Tatiana Suarez.
Tatiana Suarez calls out Zhang Weili for fight at UFC 306
Speaking to veteran journalist Brett Okamoto via the ESPN MMA YouTube channel, Suarez took her opportunity to call out champion Zhang Weili and explained that whilst the UFC is rumored to be heading to China; there’s a much more lucrative spot the very next month in Las Vegas:
“I wonder where they would put a strawweight title fight, I heard that they were going to be in China in August but that’s not a PPV card, so I don’t know maybe September at The Sphere? That would be amazing and a good fight.”
UFC 306 is to be held at The Sphere on September 14 and whilst no fights have yet been announced, there’s an expectation that Alexa Grasso will defend her flyweight title against Valentina Shevchenko somewhere near the top of the card.
Back to the potential matchup against Zhang Weili, and Suarez believes that she has the skills needed to earn a shock submission victory and claim the title:
“100% it would go to the ground at some point, whether she wants to take me down or I want to take her down, it’s been shown that I have good takedowns too…I think I get a submission 100%, I think I will sub her – either a submission or a TKO…I know in my heart that I can do it.”
“I’ve been wrestling since I was very young and I know that doesn’t mean much in terms of MMA, but I have done the sequences more than her, longer than her, and I have an array of submissions,” said the 33-year-old contender, who holds a perfect record of 10-0.
Weili has only ever lost three fights as a professional, one via KO and two via decision – yet that doesn’t faze Suarez, who herself has already earned five of her 10 wins via submission:
“If you look at my resume, I have a really good guillotine, I have a very good rear naked choke, D’Arce, Anaconda, head and arm, I can go for armbars – I submit people every single day with an array of submissions…I do believe in my heart that I am the best grappler.”
Suarez admits it was ‘cool’ to see Weili face some adversity
Speaking on Weili’s title defense at UFC 300, Suarez noted that whilst “It was a great fight [and] it was entertaining,” it was also “cool that there was a little bit of adversity that she faced.”
“It just makes it all a little bit more exciting for whoever’s watching – not necessarily like I want to see her fail, more so it’s more exciting to watch a back-and-forth fight as opposed to someone just beating the c*** out of somebody.”
Yet with the title fight victory, Weili has undoubtedly earned the right to step away from the PPV model in order to headline a Fight Night card in China in August – if the reports are to be believed for an August trip across the Pacific.
When asked whether she would be willing to step into enemy territory for a chance to become world champion, Suarez said: “I don’t care as long as I get a title shot, I think it would be awesome.”
Suarez teased that negotiations for her next fight are set to take place in the coming weeks, with UFC 306 scheduled for September 14 at The Sphere in Las Vegas.