Tatiana Suarez wants a second crack at UFC gold.
After securing her third consecutive win since failing to capture the UFC strawweight title, Suarez (13-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) wants to run things back, and she thinks she's in a position to call for another championship opportunity. Suarez picked up a unanimous decision win over veteran Virna Jandiroba (23-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) this past Saturday in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 293. With the win in hand, Suarez believes she's the obvious next challenger for champion Mackenzie Dern.
"I'm No. 2 and (Jandiroba) No. 3. I don't know who (could be next)," Suarez told reporters at the UFC Fight Night 293 post-fight press conference. "I guess (Zang) Weili, but we don't know what's going on with Weili and it's
just Mackenzie, so I'm just thinking, yeah, that would be a good fight. That's the fight to make."
Dern just completed her second title defense this past August, beating Gillian Robertson in a decision. She's yet to be booked for a return. Many expected Dern to fight former champion Zhang Weili, who vacated the belt at 115 pounds for a title fight at 125 pounds, which she lost to Valentina Shevchenko. However, it's unknown when and if Weili will return to the cage.
As far as the performance on Saturday, Suarez was initially disappointed with her showing. However, all things considered, Suarez is happy with the win.
"She basically did everything I thought (she would)," Suarez said. "I think my team and I game-planned really well. I was disappointed for a second, but I'm also happy I'm going with two checks and some experience over a very good oppoennt. She makes a lot of the girls look bad. She had a very good fight with Mackenzie (Dern). It wasn't a blowout by any means. It was very close fight."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Tatiana Suarez: Mackenzie Dern for the title 'the fight to make' after UFC Vegas 124 win
