One of the UFC’s most intriguing female contenders is eyeing a return for 2023.
Following a near four-year layoff due to injuries, undefeated wrestler Tatiana Suarez revealed this week that she is finally closing in on her UFC comeback. In response to a fan asking about her next fight, Suarez wrote on Instagram that she is targeting a return bout in February at 125 pounds.
A 32-year-old winner of The Ultimate Fighter 23, Suarez holds a 5-0 record in the UFC since her 2016 debut but has not fought since a June 2019 victory over Nina Nunes. Suarez’s road to recovery has been difficult. Suarez was unable to fulfill the potential that she displayed early in her career, and many people in the MMA community predicted her as a UFC strawweight champion.
Suarez looked every bit the part of a title contender in her few UFC appearances. Her best performances came in 2018 in the form of back-to-back stoppage victories over Alexa Grasso and Carla Esparza, the former of which ended via first-round rear-naked choke, and the latter of which saw Suarez dominate a former two-time UFC champion with her grappling and ground-and-pound en route to an eye-opening third-round TKO win.
“I think I have the skills to [be a two-division UFC champion],” Suarez said this past April. “I think people always say, ‘You have some of the best wrestling,’ or ‘You’re one of the best wrestlers out there. You could be one of the best.’ One-hundred percent, without a doubt in my mind, I am the best wrestler in women’s MMA. In terms of my skill set, I think I can beat any wrestler in the sport of wrestling from featherweight to strawweight. I think that is something that can get me two belts just because I’m far ahead in that discipline.”
Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2022/12/29/23531215/tatiana-suarez-eyeing-ufc-return-in-february-after-injury-plagued-four-year-layoff?rand=96749
