LAS VEGAS – Tatiana Suarez learned plenty of lessons from her first title opportunity, and is now ready for her second shot.
Suarez (12-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) returns to action Saturday in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 293 to take on fellow former title challenger Virna Jandiroba. The event takes place at the Meta APEX (Paramount+).
The latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie women's strawweight rankings have Suarez ranked No. 3, with Jandiroba (23-4 MMA, 9-4 UFC) right behind at No. 4. Considering No. 2, former champion Zhang Weili, is on hiatus with no return fight on the books, Suarez believes this should be a title eliminator to face the current champion, Mackenzie Dern.
"Yeah, absolutely, because we're at the top of the division other than Weili,"
Suarez told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday's media day. "So, I just feel like it makes sense that we're gonna be next in line for the belt."
Suarez's first title opportunity came against Weili (26-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) at UFC 312 last February. She lost that fight by unanimous decision. It was not only a failed chance to win the title, but the first loss of her professional career. Suarez only won the opening round on the judges' scorecards and was blanked after that. For someone who had never experienced defeat in MMA competition, Suarez took plenty from the loss.
"I took a lot from that fight, obviously – um, I guess it's not obvious, because not everybody does that, but I'm sure you have to," Suarez said. "There's just no way you don't take anything from a loss, you know? For me, it's helped me in a lot of ways mentally. Obviously, it's helped me understand things that I also have to improve on, and more so the mindset of it all. Up until that point, I've never faced any adversity in a fight. So, that was the first time I've ever had to face any type of adversity, and I never stopped coming. I always kept trying, so that's something to be said as well.
"So it does show me that I always just never quit. I'm never just going to be like, 'OK, I'm done.' She hit me with some good shots, and I just kept coming forward. But I think more importantly, I just feel like being a skilled fighter and having the fight IQ is important when you have big fights like that. So, that's what I definitely learned out there as well is like being smarter and fighting smarter."
Suarez has taken those lessons and applied them to her fights since. She bounced back with a unanimous decision win over Amanda Lemos, and followed that with a second-round submission win over Loopy Godinez. With another title shot potentially hanging in the balance, Suarez is aiming to finish Jandiroba to make it clear who should be next to face Dern (17-5 MMA, 12-5 UFC), which would be a fresh matchup for the champion.
"I always look to go and finish my opponents and have a statement performance," Suarez said. "I never go out there, I'm like, 'I just kinda want to only win,' you know? I always want to go out there and finish my opponent, so that's what I am focused on. That's where my energy's going. That's what I want to do. I want to finish the fight, make everybody on TV happy, I guess – but more so myself."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Tatiana Suarez: Mackenzie Dern title shot 'makes sense' with UFC Fight Night 293 win
