Tatiana Suarez met the media Saturday after her win over Amanda Lemos at UFC Fight Night 259.
Suarez (11-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) outworked Lemos (15-5-1 MMA, 9-5 UFC) for a unanimous decision with a trio of 29-28 scores from the judges at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas. Their prelim fight was part of the promotion’s annual Noche UFC celebration of Mexican Heritage Month.
Suarez, who brings a strong wrestling base background to her game, said she wished she could have shown more against Lemos. Suarez was coming off a strawweight title decision loss to champ Zhang Weili in February, the first setback of her career. Lemos challenged for the women’s strawweight title a little more than two years ago, herself.
But despite what she thought were some shortcomings, she said she was glad to get more cage time given she’s only a dozen fights into her pro career.
“This was another 15 minutes in the cage that I’m able to learn from and grow some experience,” Suarez told UFC.com after the fight. “I don’t have that many fights. … I’m just glad to get some experience in a sport that I’m fairly, fairly green in. I’m gaining more experience every single time I step in there.”
Suarez said she banked on Lemos using the bulk of her training camp worrying about wrestling to defend against Suarez’s strength. But Suarez said physical limitations with an existing neck injury usually keep her from extended wrestling sessions in her own preparation.
But Lemos’ defense kept Suarez’s finish attempts at bay and forced a bit more of a grinder. Given she needed a return to the win column, Suarez said she’ll live with that. She also said she expects she might need another fight before she’s officially back in the title mix.
Zhang vacated her belt to move to flyweight to challenge champ Valentina Shevchenko, and the newly available 115-pound title will be fought for by Virna Jandiroba and Mackenzie Dern at UFC 321 next month. The timing is such that Suarez could be quickly available for the winner’s first defense.
Suarez had a layoff of 3.5 years at one point not long ago. Future lengthy layoffs aren’t in her plans.
“I look forward to another matchup,” Suarez said. “Whether that’s for the title or if I have to fight again, I don’t really mind. … I had such a long layoff in my prime and such a prime time of my career, and now I’m just trying to catch up on the experience part.
Check out Suarez’s post-fight interview in the video below.
