December 27, 2024 9:15 pm ET
Tatiana Suarez lastly will get her first crack at a UFC championship.
Suarez (10-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) challenges strawweight champion Zhang Weili (25-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) within the co-main occasion of UFC 312 on Feb. 9 at Qudos Financial institution Enviornment in Sydney.
Suarez was scheduled to face Virna Jandiroba earlier this month at UFC 310, however the bout was scrapped when Suarez withdrew as a result of undisclosed causes. It was then introduced that she’s going to problem Weili for the strawweight title.
“I’ve been good since June of this yr,” Suarez advised UFC Unfiltered. “Once you’re on the high of the division, for some motive it’s actually laborious to get fights, particularly as a result of there’s not that many matchups. Once I was wholesome, all people was already matched up within the high 10, and so they’re most likely not going to do a high 15 in opposition to the No. 1 lady.
“I had requested for a battle, and I needed to battle Weili in August or September, however she was busy with obligations that she had as a champion. Then that didn’t occur, after which we had been going to battle Virna, and now we’re going to go forward and battle Weili in February. However I’ve been good for some time now. I’ve been coaching laborious, it’s simply that we haven’t been capable of get a battle due to the matchups and stuff. The division was type of tousled. All people was matched up.” Suarez beat the likes of former UFC champions Alexa Grasso, Carla Esparza, and Jessica Andrade en path to a title shot, however inactivity delayed her title shot. However regardless of the tumultuous street, Suarez is able to dwell as much as her championship potential.
“My psychological power is second to none,” Suarez mentioned. “I believe that performs an enormous think about preventing basically. When the brilliant lights shine, so do I. I at all times rise to the event, and I’ve a lot expertise in one other sport, too. I wrestled my complete life. I’ve had a lot strain placed on me my complete life.”
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