San Antonio, TX — Looking to bounce back from the first loss of her pro MMA career in a failed title bid against Weili Zhang, strawweight Tatiana Suarez returns at Noche UFC this Saturday.
Originally scheduled for Guadalajara, Mexico then shifted to San Antonio due to construction delays at the planned venue, Noche UFC has lost a bit of its shine (and its status as a PPV event), but there are still a number of high-profile match-ups adorning the Fight Night card. Among them, Suarez faces fellow ex-title challenger Amanda Lemos, with Virna Jandiroba vs. Mackenzie Dern for the vacant 115lb title looming.
When it comes to an opponent, Suarez (10-1) cared less about a name, and more about a number next to it. “I just wanted to fight whoever was in the top. Like Yan [Xiaonan], her [Lemos], I don’t even know. Virna obviously, but obviously they made the other match-up. But at the time, that’s what I was thinking. Somebody higher in the rankings so that I could work my way back to a title shot.”
Lemos is ranked #4 to Suarez’s own #2 position in the weight class, which is wide open as Weili Zhang makes the move to flyweight to pursue greatness there, and a title fight with Valentina Shevchenko.
Scheduled to face Lemos once before (the bout never happened), Suarez noted that there’s been minimal change in her preparation this time around.
“I think the only difference is that I learned to get even more comfortable on the feet, which will be a great advantage in the fight.”
Since her last fight, against Zhang, Suarez feels she’s grown as a competitor. It’s a “you win or you learn” sort of situation.
“I think every time you step in there, it’s a chance to learn, just like life. Things that happen in your life that are great, and then there’s things that happen in your life that are shitty, and you learn from both,” she stated. “You always try to look at how you can become better. So for me, I definitely learned a lot of things. I grew as a fighter, more experience, and I’m just going to take that with me on Saturday.”
Watch the full Noche UFC media day appearance by Tatiana Suarez above.
