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Undefeated strawweight Tatiana Suarez made her UFC debut in The Ultimate Fighter 23 finale against Amanda Cooper in July 2016. Suarez won the tournament by submitting Cooper in the very first round.
Watch Suarez's post-fight interview after her Ultimate Fighter finale win below:
Tatiana Suarez's first appearance on an official UFC Fight Night card came in 2017 at UFC Fight Night 120. Suarez fought her way to a unanimous decision win against Brazilian Viviane Pereira at the event.
Suarez holds a 5-0 record in the UFC. She currently has two submissions and one TKO victory on her promotional slate. Another interesting fact is that Suarez's lone TKO victory came against reigning women's strawweight champion Carla Esparza at UFC 228.
Suarez hasn't stepped inside the octagon since June 2019. A plethora of injuries, including a bulging disc in the neck and knee problems, have kept the wrestling sensation out of action for nearly two-and-a-half years.
In a recent interview with The Schmo, the 31-year-old stated that she's hoping for a fall return to the octagon, either in September or October this year.
Watch the full interview below:
Tatiana Suarez before the UFC
Before switching her sights to mixed martial arts, Tatiana Suarez was an accomplished wrestler. After starting her training at the age of four, the California native went on to win two world championship bronze medals in freestyle wrestling.
Watch Suarez's interview after her 2010 bronze win, below:
However, Suarez's Olympic dreams came to a bitter end when she suffered a neck injury while training for the 2012 London Games. To make matters worse, an MRI taken after the injury revealed a cancerous tumor in her thyroid.
After surgery and radiation treatment, Suarez was successful in wiping off the cancer from her body. Tatiana Suarez then started training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Even with limited years of training in the discipline, the former wrestler was able to capture gold in both the 2013 and 2015 World jiu-jitsu Championships.
The American made her pro mixed martial arts debut in 2014 as a flyweight under the Gladiator Challenge banner. In her debut bout, she clinched a unanimous decision win against Trya Parker.
After two more successful showings for Gladiator Challenge, Suarez got the chance to participate in the 23rd season of The Ultimate Fighter. Suarez won the competition in the strawweight division and was added to the official UFC roster.
