Athletes
Tatiana Suarez Wants To Leave No Doubt
After Bouncing Back From Injury, Tatiana Suarez Plans To Rebound From Defeat To Stake Her Claim For Another Title Shot.
Tatiana Suarez fully admits she’s not too keen on being in front of the cameras, but by the end of UFC 327, she wants her name up in lights as the number-one contender for a title shot at 115 pounds.
Suarez is just about as humble and down-to-earth a fighter as you could wish to meet, which made being the focal point of an HBO documentary a big deal for her. Thankfully, Suarez agreed, and “The Unbreakable Tatiana Suarez” told the inspiring story of her journey back to the Octagon after almost four years away.
“I'm very shy, so (the documentary) was like, ‘Oh, OK, this is nice,’” she smiled. “When people ask me what I want to accomplish in my career, for me, it's more about inspiring others along the way, and it's an inspiring story. So I just hope that I can inspire people with the documentary. That was the main thing. So I'm happy about that, but I was very shy about it, that's for sure!”
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That shyness extends to her fight week media obligations, too. While many fighters – including some on this week’s UFC 327 fight card – turn their personalities up to 11, or even adopt brand new ones, Suarez politely shows up and answers the questions as honestly and openly as she can. But she admits it’s not a part of being a fighter she particularly looks forward to.
“I like to kind of fly under the radar. I’ve always been like this,” she admitted. Actually, when I was a kid, I kind of was like, ‘Look at me! Look at me!’ But now, as an adult, and over the years, I was more like, I kind of just like to do my own thing. I swear, if I could fight and not have to be in front of a crowd, I would do it, you know? So, I don't really like the media stuff. Like, hey, it's nice. I'm talking to you. But if it wasn't in the job description, I wouldn't be like, ‘Yeah, let's go do that.’”
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Suarez is less shy about her career, however, and has clear goals for herself. At the top of that list is the undisputed UFC women’s strawweight title, an achievement she agonizingly missed out on in her last Octagon appearance. Now she’s looking to build her way back to the top, and on Saturday night, she’ll face Loopy Godinez on the preliminary card of UFC 327 in Miami.
It’s a matchup Suarez admits she hadn’t considered, or asked for, previously. But, upon being presented with the matchup and looking at the landscape of the 115-pound division, she recognized that it’s a fight that makes a lot of sense.
“They just gave me the name. They told me the name – I said yes,” she explained. “She's on a two-fight winning streak right now. She had a close fight with the now-champion (Mackenzie Dern). She had a close fight with Virna (Jandiroba), who fought for the championship recently, and had a competitive fight with Mackenzie. So to me, it does make sense, but it wasn't my strategy.
“But in my mind, when I look at it like that, it definitely makes sense, and it definitely puts me in talks, when I win on Saturday, to go ahead and fight for the belt after, because I think Mackenzie just fought Virna. I know that Virna called out Mackenzie after her fight, but it's like, well, we just saw that. So I think some new blood would be great.”
Ever since she arrived in the UFC via a dominant run in Season 23 of The Ultimate Fighter, Suarez has carried the tag of “potential future champion”. But during a 10-year UFC career that has been beset by injuries, Suarez has fought just nine times. Now, with her injuries healed and a clear path back to a title shot now defined, Suarez plans on stamping her authority on the division with a big win on Saturday night.
“I have a great competitor ahead of me,” she said. “So I think putting on a dominant performance will go ahead and speak volumes in order to get a title shot next.”
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And while her immediate goal is to get to the top of the UFC and capture the undisputed women’s strawweight title, Suarez also revealed that she has some unfinished business with the woman who handed her her only career defeat.
Suarez lost a unanimous decision to then-champion Zhang Weili at UFC 312 in February 2025 in a fight where she was dealing with a knee injury that hampered her as much mentally as it did physically. In an ideal world, meeting “Magnum” in a title rematch further down the line, with Suarez holding the gold, would represent the perfect opportunity to showcase her full skillset.
“For me, what I really got out of that fight was just to remain calm and just to be more strategic when I'm out there fighting,” she explained. “I was off for a while, and then, you know, I had a couple of fights, and I won those fights, and then they had me off for a while again, and then I fought for the belt. So it was kind of like, even though I had that long layoff, I felt ready, and I really had an amazing camp.
“Honestly, I still think to this day that, had I not injured my knee and kind of got into a panic mode of, like, ‘OK, I don't know what's wrong with my knee – go take her down. Hurry up and go do this,’ I feel like it would have definitely been a more competitive fight. And I do believe that I could be victorious. So I'm hoping that she does come back and I can avenge that loss, and everybody can see the real Tatiana.”
UFC 327: Procházka vs Ulberg took place live from Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida on April 11, 2026. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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