The APEX played host to a women’s strawweight matchup on Saturday night at UFC Vegas 70 as undefeated prospect Tatiana Suarez returned after nearly three years on the shelf against Montana De La Rosa. Suarez walked into the matchup a perfect 8-0 with five of those victories coming inside the Octagon between 2016 and 2019. Things haven’t gone quite as well for De La Rosa who entered the bout 5-3 under the UFC banner but dropped two of her last three contests against Viviane Araujo and Maycee Barber.
Tatiana Suarez closed the distance early and pushed De La Rosa to the fence before completing a single-leg takedown. Attempting to escape, De La Rosa gave up her back but managed to get to her feet. Suarez refused to let go, continuing to press her opponent against the fence while delivering knees and strikes to the body of De La Rosa as the first five minutes came to a close.
Suarez did little to stray from her gameplan in the second, closing the distance quickly and dragging De La Rosa to the mat, and immediately moving into side control. De La Rosa defended well, rolling to her back and climbing to her feet, but Suarez was able to snatch De La Rosa’s neck and pulled guard, fighting for a guillotine choke. De La Rosa did her best to defend but was ultimately forced to tap out in round two.
Official Result: Tatiana Suarez def. Montana De La Rosa via submission (guillotine choke) at 2:51 of Round 2