Tatiana Suarez got back in the win column at Noche UFC but she had to survive a late comeback attempt from Amanda Lemos before securing a unanimous decision victory.
After coming up short in her bid to become strawweight champion earlier in the year, Suarez stuck to her grappling game on Saturday night and scored repeated takedowns to control the majority of the fight. Lemos finally fought off her wrestling late in the final round and unleashed a flurry of strikes that had Suarez rattled but she ultimately
ran out of time before doing enough for a potential finish.
In the end, all three judges scored the contest 29-28 for Suarez, who bounces back after falling to Zhang Weili in her previous outing.
It was just over a minute into the opening round when Suarez was able to close the distance and look for her first takedown, although Lemos defended effectively. Suarez continued pressing forward and she finally brought the fight to the floor despite Lemos’ best attempts to stop her, which included grabbing the fence before she got dumped on the ground.
Lemos avoided taking too much damage before getting a restart in the second round but Suarez was quick to attack with her wrestling again. While Lemos continued playing defense, Suarez held onto the body lock and chipped away with knees as she kept fighting until getting another takedown.
From there, Suarez maintained position as she fought to potentially set up a guillotine choke but Lemos was able to break free before working her way back to the feet. With Suarez holding onto her position, Lemos actually grabbed onto a choke of her own but time ran out before she could threaten the former strawweight title challenger.
The relentless wrestling from Suarez continued and Lemos was stuck just trying to fend off the takedowns. While Suarez was able to eventually get under the legs, pick Lemos up and slam her down again, the Brazilian immediately scrambled out of the position and got back to her feet.
With a minute remaining, Suarez started running out of gas and Lemos began cracking her with some stiff shots. Lemos appeared to have Suarez hurt but she just couldn’t mount enough damage to stop the fight, which led to Suarez securing the decision win.
While it probably wasn’t the statement win she needed to possibly call for another title shot, Suarez remains a top contender in the division and now she’ll keep a close eye on the upcoming fight between Mackenzie Dern and Virna Jandiroba to determine a new strawweight champion after Zhang left the division to pursue a belt at flyweight.
