Tatianna Suarez doesn’t think the former champion has anything for her.
Tatiana Suarez impressed this past weekend with a dominating second round submission victory over Montana De La Rosa. That win came after Suarez spent almost four years on the sidelines due to serious neck and knee injuries.
After the fight Suarez talked about what might be next for her. The 9-0 former TUF winner said she’d love to face former UFC strawweight champion Rosa Namajunas next.
“I’m not scared to fight the best people, because that means I’m the best, so I would love to fight somebody like Rose,” said Suarez (ht MMA Fighting). “She’s amazing striker. She’s amazing martial artist. She, too, has overcome a lot of things in her life and I respect her as a person.”
One person Suarez doesn’t see herself fighting is former two-time strawweight champion Carla Esparza. Those two met at UFC 228 in 2018 in Suarez’s fourth UFC fight. Suarez bossed that fight, earning a third round TKO victory.
After that loss Esparza went on a six-fight winning streak that culminated in a win over Namajunas to win the UFC belt for a second time. Esparza lost the belt to Zhang Weili last year. She remains ranked as the number one contender in the 115 lbs division.
Despite what Esparza has done since their first meeting, Suarez shrugged off the possibility that they would be fighting each other again anytime soon.
“I don’t think anybody wants to see me fight Carla again,” she said. “Let’s be real like, I would catch a case twice. No, we’re not doing that. Not saying that she hasn’t improved, but I just think that you saw the first fight, I don’t even think that there would be anything different about the second fight with Carla. So let’s just not do that one.”
Suarez won the 23rd season of The Ultimate Fighter with a win over Amanda Bobby Cooper in 2016. Before suffering her injuries Suarez won fights against Viviane Pereira, Nina Nunes and this weekend’s UFC flyweight title contender Alexa Grasso.
About the author: Tim Bissell is a writer, editor and deputy site manager for Bloody Elbow. He has covered combat sports since 2015. Tim covers news and events and has also written longform and investigative pieces. (full bio)