Tatiana Suarez Has High Hopes for UFC 312: 'When the Bright Lights Shine, So Do I'

Great things have been expected of Tatiana Suarez since early in her Ultimate Fighting Championship career.

She’ll get a chance to deliver on that promise when she meets Weili Zhang in a strawweight title bout at UFC 312 in Sydney, Australia, on Feb. 8. The situation is a little unusual since Suarez hasn’t competed since submitting Jessica Andrade at UFC on ESPN 50 in August 2023. However, the 34-year-old Californian isn’t altering her mindset heading into the biggest fight of her career to date.

“I don’t feel any different,” Suarez recently said on UFC Unfiltered. “I just feel like it’s another fight. It’s another challenge for me. I’m really excited because I’ve never had a five-round fight. But if anybody can do it, it’s me.”

Suarez is no stranger to lengthy layoffs. Injuries sidelined her for more than three years after a victory over Nina Nunes at UFC 238 in June 2019, but she returned to the Octagon in 2023 to post back-to-back victories over Montana De La Rosa and Andrade. The Milennia MMA representative doesn’t expect to be hindered by her most recent time on the sideline, in part because she’s consistently working in the gym.

“I don’t think about that stuff,” Suarez said. “I just think about the way I feel when I train. As long as I see everything, just like I do in sparring, my range is right, my grappling is on point, my timing is good. Whenever I’m out of fighting, like I’m not in the cage, it’s not like I’m sitting on the couch doing nothing. I’m always doing something, always working out.”

Suarez was supposed to face Amanda Lemos and Virna Jandiroba this year, but she ultimately withdrew from both fights due to injuries. However, she also claims she was ready to face Zhang in between those fights, which were scheduled for February and December, respectively.

“When you’re at the top of the division, for some reason it’s really hard to get fights. There’s not that many matchups,” Suarez said. “When I was healthy, everybody was already matched up in the Top 10…. I had asked for a fight. I wanted to fight Weili in August…or September. But she was busy with obligations she had as a champion.”

Regardless of how she got to this point, Suarez expects to perform at a high level against the reigning strawweight queen at UFC 312.

“My mental strength is second to none. I think that plays a huge factor in fighting in general,” Suarez said. “When the bright lights shine, so do I. I always rise to the occasion.”