Sydney, Australia — Were it not for being plagued by injury, UFC 312’s Tatiana Suarez, who challengers Weili Zhang for strawweight gold this Saturday, believes should would have been champion years ago.
That’s not an uncommon take from MMA fans and pundits either, to be fair. Suarez, who won The Ultimate Fighter 23 way back in 2016, has long been considered championship material. But setback after setback on the injury front kept her out of the cage for extended periods. She’s fought just six times since winning TUF. Luckily, strawweight is in need of challengers, and despite sitting out 2024, two straight wins a year earlier were enough to convince the UFC to give her a shot.
“For me, I’m always about proving things. I know people say that and they see my ability, they see how great I am and stuff like that, and it’s very flattering. It’s kind of one of those things where, now I just want to compete. My time is now,” Suarez (10-0) explained during Wednesday’s UFC 312 media day. “I thought it would be years ago, but my time is now. I’m excited to be here, and what better place to do it than this beautiful country.”
Asked whether she had expected to win gold years ago, “Yes, absolutely” Suarez affirmed. “I think at the time, I think at the time maybe even Joanna [Jedrzejczyk] had it [the belt].
I would have had the opportunity to face her as well, maybe even Rose [Namajunas], because she was in the mix then too, now she’s switched weight classes up.”
Still, there is a silver lining in fighting China’s Zhang. “Now I can go ahead and still face someone who actually beat Joanna twice. So I can still kind of prove that here, even a few years later.”
As for Rose Namajunas, the former champ switching weight classes shifted Suarez’s focus. “Right now she’s [Zhang] the best in the division. I know she lost to Rose twice, I know for a while I was like ‘I want to fight Rose,’ and she was probably like ‘Tatiana, stop saying my name.’ Then she switched weight classes, I’m like ‘okay I’m done.’ Now I’m just focused on Weili.”
Watch the full UFC 312 media day appearance by Tatiana Suarez above.