Tatiana Suarez Is Ready To Show Her Best Self

“I just don't let anything, whether it's a horrible performance and a win, or if it's a loss, I don't let anything deter me... I just went back to training, because I love to do it. And then I booked a fight, and here I am, looking to get a victory here on Saturday.”

Chatting with UFC.com during fight week, Suarez was in a positive mood, and delighted to be able to be getting back in the Octagon seven months on from that defeat.

“It feels amazing,” she smiled.

“I'm just glad, obviously, to be back quicker than I was last time, so it doesn't feel foreign or anything like that.”

Suarez has had to overcome plenty of adversity during her life, both inside and outside of the sporting arena, and those prior battles have helped give Suarez perspective, and the ability to move on quickly from setbacks.

“I’ve lost so many times during wrestling,” she said.

Everything You Need To Know Aboiut Noche UFC And Canelo vs Crawford

“I’ve wrestled since I was three years old. I've had so many losses because I've just been competing in it for so long... For me, there’s losses on the mat and losses outside of the mat, like in life. I had cancer, but then I won, because I beat it! And other setbacks – I had a neck injury when I was wrestling and I had to take some time off. And then I ended up fighting MMA, and I’ve had a lot of injuries throughout my career... But, for me, I always keep a positive mindset, and I always just keep going forward.”

That positivity extends to her own self-confidence, which remains undimmed, though she did reveal one particular issue that she had to deal with against Zhang that she wishes she could have avoided.

"Well, I wouldn't have hurt my knee. That would been number one!” she smiled.

“That changed a lot of things. I’ve never publicly said anything, like, ‘Oh, here's why I lost.’ But it definitely changed a lot of things, and definitely changed the way I fought... If you watch any of my fights, I don't just go out there and shoot sporadically.  I felt like I just got a little nervous because I had hurt my knee, and I didn't know what was going on. So I didn't fight like myself... I ended up making mistakes throughout the fight, and it cost me the fight. But it's OK, because now I've learned from it, and I'm banking that. My brain learned it's not going to do that again.”

Suarez is taking the positives from her defeat and, given the limitations she was battling during the fight, she has emerged with her confidence intact.

“I'm not trying to come off as cocky, because I'm not. But I don't think that was my true self out there,” she said.

Suarez’s return to action is particularly well timed, with a changing of the guard set to take place at the top of the strawweight division.

Zhang is set to vacate the belt and move up to challenge Valentina Shevchenko for the undisputed women’s flyweight title, while strawweight contenders Virna Jandiroba and Mackenzie Dern are set to face off for the 115-pound title in the co-main event of UFC 321.

It means that, should Suarez claim victory on Saturday night, she could find herself first in line to challenge the new champion. But while she recognizes the situation, Suarez said she won’t be looking to rush straight back into a title fight if she’s successful on Saturday night.

“I think this will definitely get me in the talks of, ‘OK, who's next for the belt?’” she said. “I'm not asking for an immediate title shot after I go and win, but I do think that it sets me up and it puts me in a good spot... If I have to go ahead and beat Yan Xiaonan next, I’ll do that, as well. It doesn't matter to me. I'm just excited to get this one done and then, obviously, keep climbing towards my goal of becoming a world champion.”

And, whatever Saturday night – and the rest of her UFC career – has in store, you can count on one thing – Suarez will leave it all in the Octagon in her quest for glory.

“I always give everything that I have,” she said.

“I train so hard because I want to go in there knowing that I did everything I possibly could to win my fight. And if I come up short, then I come up short. But at least I did everything I could and I know that I wasn’t just being lazy and half-doing it – I was giving it my all.

“So that’s what I always pride myself in – always giving everything that I can.”