The rematch between Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland might be dominating the headlines, but there’s a second fabulous UFC title fight to look forward to this weekend.
In the co-main event of UFC 312, Chinese superstar Zhang Weili defends her throne against undefeated American grappler Tatiana Suarez in what many expect to be a razor-close affair.
Whilst the 115lb title showdown is near-even heading into Fight Week; the 10-0 Suarez believes that the writing is on the wall for a shock underdog stoppage win Down Under.
Tatiana Suarez predicts she’ll submit Zhang Weili in UFC 312 title fight
Given how Zhang Weili has won most of her professional MMA fights via KO/TKO, and Tatiana Suarez has a clear preference for submissions; countless UFC fans are labelling the UFC 312 co-main as a classic ‘striker vs grappler’ matchup.
Yet when speaking to Shakiel Mahjouri ahead of the biggest fight of her career, Suarez would state that fans shouldn’t be surprised if the title bout descends into a ‘grappler vs grappler’ contest.
“I don’t feel like she’s a striker, to be honest; if it was Tatiana Suarez vs Yan Xiaonan then I would say that’s a grappler vs striker, but Weili likes to do it all and as of late, she really hasn’t done much in the standup.
“I feel like her last couple of fights, she’s only done grappling, and you know, her fight before that with Rose [Namajunas] was a competitive fight and had some grappling but it was mostly standup.”
After dropping the belt to Rose Namajunas in 2021, Weili rebounded with a KO of Joanna Jedrzejczyk, after which she recaptured the title with a submission over Carla Esparza, following up with back-to-back UD wins over Amanda Lemos and Xiaonan.
“She has good grappling,” acknowledged her incoming title challenger, with Suarez then making a bold prediction for how the UFC 312 co-main event will play out.
“I think our styles and the way we matchup, I feel like I’m going to submit her – I don’t have a round in mind, but I know that I am going to submit her.
“I have an array of submissions that most people don’t have, I can do a lot of [different] chokes. I’ve had rear-naked chokes, I’ve had guillotines and D’Arces; a real array of chokes that you don’t see in women’s MMA.”
Suarez is 7-0 under the UFC banner, with four of those victories coming via submission; and the undefeated American believes she’ll add a fifth to her resume on February 8.
“Most women can get to the back for a rear-naked choke or an armbar, but I have multiple chokes and attacks, that’s where I excel,” Suarez stated with utter confidence in her ground game; “I’m not just a wrestler, I’m a great grappler.
“It could be an Anaconda or D’Arce, it would be real poetic if I got another D’Arce – how I started off my career versus how I win a world title.”
Tatiana Suarez on the possibility of becoming a two-weight champion
Considering the lack of meaningful matchups in-and-around many of the women’s divisions, we wouldn’t be surprised if Suarez soon set her sights on the flyweight title, should she defeat Weili for the strawweight title this weekend.
Whilst a second championship belt remains part of her future plans, Suarez was keen to drive home the fact that she’s solely focused on the ‘Magnum’ matchup in Australia.
“Right now, I’m just focusing on becoming a world champion and then after this fight, we’ll figure all that other stuff out. I want to stay in my division and be the best in the world, beat all the girls that come up.
“Then eventually, if I do try to do the 125lb thing then yeah, we’ll do there – but I’m not really thinking that much ahead… I’m just thinking about my next fight and that’s Zhang Weili.”
UFC 312 goes down live from Australia on Saturday, February 8.