The undefeated strawweight title challenger has overcome several major setbacks that could’ve been her curtain call.
Many fight fans have expected for a number of years that sooner or later, Tatiana Suarez would find herself in position to challenge for a UFC title.
Multiple significant injury issues have meant that her upcoming clash with the defending 115-pound champion Zhang Weili at UFC 312 has been a long time in the making despite her perfect 10-0 record.
When Suarez makes the walk at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, it will have been 554 days since she last stepped foot inside the Octagon but this layoff is just the tip of the iceberg.
It’s a testament to her undeniable will and talent that she has been able to persevere through so many difficult moments to slowly but surely find herself in the spotlight on February 8.
Tatiana Suarez fought two times in five years with a 1,359 day gap in her career
Before Tatiana Suarez had even made her pro debut in MMA, she had already overcome tremendous adversity earlier on in life.
Her promising wrestling career which saw her training for the 2012 Olympics was ended due to a neck injury with scans revealing that she also had thyroid cancer.
She overcame this with treatment and eventually found her way to mixed martial arts where a 3-0 record earned her the opportunity to compete on the 23rd season of The Ultimate Fighter.
Suarez’s first major injury since winning TUF came after her fifth consecutive win inside the Octagon where she defeated Nina Nunes after beating future and former champions in Alexa Grasso and Carla Esparza.
The win over Nunes cemented her as a title contender but after going into the bout with a neck injury, all hopes of capitalizing on this win would be delayed for two years.
A return in 2021 against Roxane Modafferi was pencilled in for UFC 266 in Las Vegas but a knee injury caused Suarez to seriously consider whether she would step back inside the Octagon again.
After spending 1,359 days on the side lines, the Californian made her return, submitting Montana De La Rosa at flyweight before moving back to 115-pounds.
A submission win over another former champion in Jessica Andrade announced her return to strawweight and after two cancelled fights against Amanda Lemos and Virna Jandiroba, the UFC made the call to elevate Suarez into a title fight which sees her take on the dominant champion this Saturday.
The challenger’s remarkable story has even been documented in a HBO documentary that was released last year called “The Unbreakable Tatiana Suarez”.
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Tatiana Suarez is no stranger to coming back from long breaks
Along with the fact that she is taking on an elite competitor in China’s Zhang Weili, the biggest concern hanging over Tatiana Suarez this weekend will be the long break in between fights.
That being said, if there’s any fighter on the roster who has a track record for overcoming this obstacle, it is the 34-year-old.
Her last outing in August of 2023 was exactly the kind of ruthlessness that got fans excited about Suarez again after she secured the guillotine choke against Andrade.
Dethroning the 115-pound champion on February 8 is already a huge task whether or not you have been consistently active or not.
For Suarez, she’s never had things the easy way so having these additional odds stacked against her is nothing new.