UFC strawweight contender Tatiana Suarez isn’t getting the next strawweight title shot after all, but she’s OK with that because it will give her time to recover from her neck injury.
Tatiana Suarez doesn’t have a problem with Weili Zhang getting the next UFC strawweight title shot.
Suarez, No. 2 in the division, met Nina Ansaroff, No. 3, at UFC 238 last weekend in Chicago. The winner was expected to fight newly crowned champion Jessica Andrade. Suarez beat Ansaroff by unanimous decision, but it wasn’t the dominant performance many expected, prompting some to argue she doesn’t deserve a title shot quite yet.
It was reported earlier this week that Weili Zhang will actually get the first crack at Andrade, who defeated Rose Namajunas for the title last month at UFC 237. Andrade vs. Zhang is nearly finalized for the Aug. 31 card in China.
Suarez injured her neck in the Ansaroff fight, so she sees getting passed over for the next title shot as an opportunity to sit out and recover.
“I wasn’t angry at all,” Suarez told The Luke Thomas Show about her hearing about Andrade vs. Zhang. “And I said that after my fight. I told [the UFC] I obviously want the fight, but I didn’t want people to hang on and wait for me. I’m not upset, it’s OK, I don’t care. It’ll give me time to really figure out what’s going on with my neck, and heal up, and be 100 percent next time. Being healthy is really important to me. I love fighting, it means a lot to me, but I’d rather be able to walk.”
With the win over Ansaroff, Suarez moved to 5-0 in the promotion. She won The Ultimate Fighter 23 in 2016. Suarez is undefeated in pro MMA at 8-0 and holds a win over ex-strawweight titleholder Carla Esparza.