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

Labels

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

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...
Read more

Henry Cejudo: 'I still don't see Sean O'Malley as the best in the world' ahead of UFC 299

Henry Cejudo is not sold on Sean O'Malley as UFC bantamweight champion. O’Malley (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) knocked out Aljamain Sterling to become 135-pound champion at UFC 292, whereas Cejudo is coming off a close title loss to Sterling at UFC 288 . O’Malley will make his first title defense against Marlon Vera in the UFC 299 headliner on March 9, and Cejudo is still adamant that “Chito” beats O’Malley again – despite being a sizable underdog. “I still don’t see Sean O’Malley as the best in the world,” Cejudo said on Daniel Cormier’s YouTube channel . “I don’t. I do believe ‘Chito’ Vera is going to beat him. You have good defense, you walk that dude down, you kick his freaking legs – he still has that wide leg – you kick his legs, you just bring the fight to him and grit. “This is what Sean O’Malley will do: He’ll look at the clock because he throws a lot of power. He is precise, but he throws a lot of it. I would bet the house on ‘Chito.’ Once I beat Merab (Dvalishvili), I’m goi...
Read more

Jim Miller had no problem accepting short-notice replacement Jared Gordon: 'Business as usual'

LAS VEGAS – With over 50 professional MMA fights, Jim Miller has been through it all, which has brought a level of comfort few have in this sport. That’s why when the UFC called with Jared Gordon as a replacement opponent for Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 45, Miller (35-17 MMA, 24-16 UFC) had no problem saying yes. At this point, there’s little the UFC lightweight veteran hasn’t seen, and he expects to be ready Saturday. “(It’s) business as usual,” Miller told reporters at Wednesday’s UFC on ESPN 45 news conference. “That’s three in a row that opponents drop out like two weeks or less for the event. And I think it’s a total of nine times in my career with the UFC, so more like 25 percent. But yeah, business as usual. “I train to be the best fighter that I can be every out. At this point I’ve fought everybody from the top lanky 6’4” lefties, to guys my height, and righties and grapplers. So I just appreciated when guys are willing to step up because there are a lot of fighters that say...
Read more