Opinion: The UFC’s Tatiana Suarez Dilemma

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media.

* * *
As we approach UFC 310 this Saturday in Las Vegas, I was reminded of the sad saga of Tatiana Suarez. The Californian was originally scheduled to compete against Virna Jandiroba in a title eliminator, but the injury bug reared its ugly head and once again deprived Suarez of the opportunity to prove herself worthy of challenging Weili Zhang as the best strawweight on the planet. If I’m the Ultimate Fighting Championship, I’m very hesitant about ever giving her that opportunity.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s motivation for the UFC to put her in a title fight if it so desires. She’s undefeated and holds wins over three former UFC champions: Carla Esparza, Alexa Grasso and Jessica Andrade. She even secured finishes in each of those wins. There are many people, myself included, who believe she should be the favorite if she were to face off against Zhang; and given that Suarez was out of action for almost four years at one point, it would be one of the greatest Cinderella stories in MMA history if she were able to claim the strawweight title. Because I believe she’s the best strawweight in the world, I absolutely want to see the UFC give her a shot at gold.

However, what I want as a fan is very different from what the UFC wants. That isn’t a rip on the UFC in any way, shape or form. Fans want the most entertaining or most deserving fighter to be sitting on the throne of each division. The UFC wants the fighters who bring in the most money. That might be the most entertaining or most deserving, but ultimately, it’s whoever is going to provide the company the most return on investment. Availability is paramount. Given that Suarez has more years in the UFC than she does fights, the UFC would be right to be wary about having her as strawweight champion.

In terms of her psyche, Suarez is anything but weak. Even before she made it to the UFC, she had her Olympic wrestling dreams dashed due to a neck injury. Then she overcame thyroid cancer. Despite that, she won “The Ultimate Fighter” and made it to the UFC by her fourth professional fight. When it appeared as though she had punched her ticket for a chance to fight for the title, a career-threatening neck injury sidelined her for nearly four years. After that much time away, it’s not like she could prance back into the picture and be awarded the title shot she had previously earned. She didn’t have to go back to square one, but she had to prove two things: that she was still the same fighter she was before the injury and that she could show up with regularity.

On Feb. 25, 2023, Suarez made her first appearance in the Octagon since June 2019. Fighting a weight class up at flyweight, Suarez had little difficulty in grounding and finishing Montana De La Rosa. With that performance, she proved she was still at least close to the same quality of fighter she had previously been, even if she wasn’t still at her best. From that point, it then became a question of if she could fight with regularity. Another dominating win followed just over five months later when she defeated Andrade. Given Andrade’s status as a former champion, there was reason to believe Suarez had proven enough to be worthy of the title shot. The UFC thought otherwise.

If one wanted to argue the UFC was playing politics when it angled for Xiaonan Yan to challenge Zhang for the title, I wouldn’t consider it an incorrect assessment. Looking to continue to grow its influence in China, the organization assuredly saw dollar signs in being able to promote an all-Chinese title fight. However, if the UFC wanted to claim it still didn’t trust that Suarez had fully shaken the injury bug, I wouldn’t call shenanigans on that, either. Multiple things can be true at once. Given Suarez has since pulled out of two scheduled fights, the UFC would have been proven correct to question her ability to show up.

For her scheduled contest against Amanda Lemos in February, it was a knee injury that forced Suarez out. What knocked her out of her contest with Jandiroba for UFC 310 hasn’t been disclosed, so it remains a bit of a curiosity. What makes it even more curious is Suarez initially denied any injury when it was first leaked that she was out of her contest with Jandiroba. Given Suarez’s history with her neck, one can only wonder if that might be the issue again.

What is the UFC to do with Suarez? Re-book her into a title eliminator? Maybe it pushes Jandiroba into a title fight with Zhang and lets Suarez face the winner. I’ve got my doubts, as there’s logical reason to be concerned with Suarez’s reliability to show up. I hate to say so, as I don’t want to dock Suarez for an inability to stay healthy when she doesn’t appear to be reckless in her lifestyle. However, she does need to be able to show up. Given her history, I don’t blame the UFC if it proves reluctant to set her up in a high-stakes contest. It isn’t just the risk of her pulling out of another fight; there’s also the higher risk of serious injury with her history of neck issues, especially if that’s what is presently keeping her out of action.

I very much want to see Suarez return and find success. I can’t find a thing to dislike about her, and her story is as inspirational as they come in the sports world. With that said, the UFC is a business and needs to look out for its bottom line. If Suarez looks like she’s going to be a liability, the UFC can’t be faulted for doing what it can to avoid putting her in a high-profile position. She needs to prove she’s reliable. It’s difficult to say that, but as Suarez approaches her 34th birthday and health issues continue to plague her, I fear she may be doomed to become one of the all-time great what-if stories. I pray I’m wrong.