Skip to main content

Dana White: Tatiana Suarez resolidified herself as 'one of the best in the world' at UFC Fight Night 220

LAS VEGAS – UFC president Dana White couldn’t have been much more impressed with the “incredibly talented” Tatiana Suarez in her return to the octagon at UFC Fight Night 220.

After nearly four years away from competition due to injuries and other setbacks, undefeated wrestling standout Suarez (9-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) finally made her comeback on Saturday and defeated Montana De La Rosa (12-8-1 MMA, 5-4-1 UFC) by second-round submission at the UFC Apex. It was a largely dominant performance, and showed she hasn’t lost much of an edge in terms of skill since her previous fight in June 2019.

White said it’s a “big deal” for Suarez to perform in the manner she did, especially against a durable foe like De La Rosa, who had never previously been finished in her UFC career.

“She looked incredible, especially with the time off,” White told reporters, including MMA Junkie, at the UFC Fight Night 220 post-fight news conference. “Everybody knows how I feel about that much time off. Plus the things that she battled personally, physically. And De La Rosa is badass. That’s a legit comeback fight.”

If she can keep healthy and active, Suarez seems destined for a championship path. Her two wins prior to the layoff came over Nina Nunes and former two-time titleholder Carla Esparza, the latter of which was very one-sided. Suarez returned at women’s flyweight to avoid a serious weight cut in her first fight back, but intends to move back down to strawweight and chase gold.

White isn’t sure exactly how he’ll book Suarez next, but hinted that she’s got at least one more fight ahead before any title shot consideration.

“We’ll see where she ends up in the rankings and get a couple more fights under he belt and see what happens,” White said. “There’s no doubt she’s one of the best in the world. There was a lot of talk on the internet and a lot of hype about her coming back tonight. A lot of people were excited to see her. See how she was going to handle adversity again, and she came out looking awesome.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 220.



from MMA Junkie https://ift.tt/p3VfhWo
via IFTTT

Popular posts from this blog

Photos: Bloodiest battles in BKFC history

They say gloves are meant to protect the hands not the head – but these photos say otherwise. Check out the nastiest and bloodiest battles in BKFC history in the gallery below – if you dare. (Photos courtesy of BKFC) from MMA Junkie https://ift.tt/8yhlsXF via IFTTT

Henry Cejudo on what makes Jiri Prochazka dangerous: 'He's a rhythm fighter'

Henry Cejudo sees Jiri Prochazka ’s go-with-the-flow fighting style as a big threat. Former champion Prochazka (29-3-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) meets Alex Pereira (8-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) for the vacant light heavyweight title in the UFC 295 co-headliner Nov. 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Cejudo helped train Prochazka prior to his title fight against Glover Teixeira at UFC 275. Prochazka ended up submitting Teixeira late in Round 5 , in what was a back-and-forth barnburner. Cejudo recalls advising Prochazka to be tactical, but Prochazka ended up engaging in a wild brawl. “I’ve trained Jiri – Jiri’s come out here for a few weeks to train with me,” Cejudo said on his YouTube channel . “Jiri Prochazka, he’s a different style of fighting. There’s a belief in him that makes him dangerous, you know? The fact that he’s a fighter that literally goes off of rhythm – he’s a rhythm fighter. He’s a guy that’s going to go out there and use all the rhythm that he has in order to start getting his stri...

Video: Oli Thompson lands devastating first-round knockout punch on Aleksei Oleinik in Russia

Aleksei Oleinik returned to action for the first time since his UFC exit, but things did not go in his favor. In the main event of REN TV Fight Club at Dynamo Volleyball Arena in Moscow, Russia, Oleinik (60-17-1 MMA) faced fellow UFC veteran Oli Thompson in a heavyweight bout. The result was a violent finish that left Oleinik staring up at the lights. Thompson (21-16 MMA) unleashed a crushing right hand that sent Oleinik crashing to the canvas with 35 seconds remaining in the opening round. Check out video of the finish below (via Twitter ): Oli Thompson destroys Alexey Oleynik with a massive right hand in the first round pic.twitter.com/AdWy25dQxR — caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) May 26, 2023 Thompson, 43, returned to the win column for the first time since 2020, snapping a four-fight losing skid. His last victory was also a first-round stoppage; a 23-second knockout of Szymon Bajor at Fight Exclusive Night 28 on June 13, 2020. Oleinik, 45, competed in his final UFC bout in Octo...