The Ultimate Fighter 23 winner is quickly gaining a fearsome reputation for Khabib-like dominance.
After a quick and impressive submission win over Alexa Grasso at UFC ‘Chile’, Tatiana Suarez is now 3-0 in the Octagon and 6-0 in MMA … numbers that don’t include her three exhibition wins en route to winning The Ultimate Fighter 23 strawweight tournament. She’s also an Olympic caliber wrestler, and her aggressive top game has some making comparisons to another dominant UFC fighter: lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
In her backstage interview with Laura Sanko, Suarez was happy to be mentioned in the same breath as Khabib and revealed she actually cribbed some of her moves in the fight from him.
“I love that comparison because I’m a huge fan of his,” Suarez said. “I really base a lot of my wrist riding off of him. I do that a lot in practice and actually, that’s what happened, I went for the wrist ride and she turned her back to me and I took her back off of it. So yeah, thank you Khabib for that because I learned from him.”
Is Tatiana Suarez the Khabib Nurmagomedov of the Women’s Strawweight division? pic.twitter.com/yzZcCXqNCZ
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) May 20, 2018
”I learn from all the fighters,” she continued. “There’s so many amazing fighters. I know a lot of fighters that say ‘I don’t watch fights.’ That’s crazy, because you can learn so much from anybody and grow as a martial artist.”
Suarez’s position in the co-main event shows you that the UFC is serious about pushing her as a force in the strawweight division. We’re looking forward to seeing her grow as a martial artist, especially if she keeps borrowing from some of the best fighters in the game.