Tatiana Suarez Hopeful for Title Fight Against Weili Zhang at The Sphere

Tatiana Suarez is hoping to hear soon from the Ultimate Fighting Championship about a title shot.

Weili Zhang defended her strawweight title with a lopsided unanimous decision win over fellow countrywoman Yan Xiaonan at UFC 300 earlier this month. While Suarez hasn’t heard from the UFC yet, she believes she is the next in line for a shot at Zhang. Suarez also hopes to hear good news from the UFC soon, with her manager, Ali Abdelaziz, planning to meet with promotion executives soon.

Suarez believes the only details left to figure out are when and where would Zhang be ready to fight again. While the UFC is rumored to be planning a return to Zhang's home country of China in August, Suarez noted that it’s unlikely to be a pay-per-view card. The 33-year-old hopes to challenge “Magnum” at the UFC’s one-of-a-kind card being planned for Mexican Independence Day in September at The Sphere in Las Vegas.

“Actually, we’re gonna hopefully get some news here soon in the next couple of days and see how everything goes and see what they are thinking… I think my manager Ali’s [Abdelaziz] gonna have a sitdown with them and see what’s going on, just talk about things and the future of things and we’ll see you know what happens,” Suarez told ESPN MMA. “I’m not sure I’m supposed to say that… I heard they’re gonna be in China in August but that’s not a pay-per-view card. So, I don’t know if maybe like September at The Sphere kind of thing. That would be amazing, especially because I’m Mexican and that would be a good fight to have. And knowing Weili, she might spit out some things in Spanish, make it even better. Everybody’s gonna love her and everybody’s gonna like me, so then it’ll be a great fight to have on the card.”

However, Suarez is also open to fighting in China as long as she gets the title shot. With Zhang’s evolving ground game, Suarez expects the potential clash to hit the canvas at some point, where she is confident of a submission win.

“I just think that 100% it will go to the ground at some point. Whether it’s like she wants to take me down or I want to take her down,” the 33-year-old said. “It’s been shown that like I have good takedowns, too. And I think that she might wanna take me down, who knows, like catch a kick or something, you never know, and then she can go to the ground. And I’m OK with anything really in terms of that… I think I get a submission 100%, I think I will sub her.”

After nearly a four-year hiatus plagued by injuries, Suarez scored consecutive submission wins over Montana De La Rosa and Jessica Andrade in her return to action last year. The undefeated contender was then scheduled to face Amanda Lemos in a potential tile eliminator but was forced out due to a knee injury.