Following recent social media rant, Tatiana Suarez's partner continues airing frustration with the PFL: "This is the longest layoff of my career"

While Tatiana Suarez prepares for a massive championship matchup tomorrow night, her partner [who holds Bellator MMA gold] is being unwillingly sidelined. Patchy Mix holds Bellator MMA gold but has been stuck in a bit of a limbo period with PFL acquiring Bellator in late 2023 and since dissolving the promotion outright earlier this year.

Mix has been transparent about his discontentment regarding only having a single fight under PFL ownership since the Bellator purchase in May 2024. The 135-pound titleholder also mentioned having fights canceled without compensation for November as well as January.

Speaking to MMA Junkie Radio, Patchy Mix touched on how important momentum has been in his career and confidently stated that if he is granted the PFL release he could become UFC champion within 365 days. In an excerpt from this referenced interview about why he has been so vocal throughout this situation, Mix said:

"I have to voice it because I'm in the prime of my career, and not only because I'm in the prime of my career, but because I'm the best bantamweight in the world. [My record is] 20-1 and 15 finishes, and I've been shelved. I've had one fight in the last 14 months. I do very well with activity, my whole career. This is the longest layoff of my career."

Check out Patchy Mix's comments below (1:10):

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Tatiana Suarez's own tale of inactivity pre-UFC 312

Tatiana Suarez has also had her own story relating to competitive inactivity with her situation being aligned with major injury and illness adversities as opposed to a lack of clear direction/ communication from an MMA organization.

The 34-year-old has long been touted as someone who would invariably fight for a UFC title someday but Tatiana Suarez had several monumental road blocks along this path. When the strawweight title challenger walks into the cage on Saturday night, it will have been over 550 days since her last MMA bout against Jessica Andrade in August 2023.

Suarez's win over Nina Nunes at UFC 238 was not something she could capitalize on as she had a long lingering neck injury pop back up, which also hampered her hopes of competing in the 2012 Olympics. The neck scan from over a decade ago had also revealed thyroid cancer which Suarez has since overcome.

A knee injury circa 2021 also reared its head with outside of the cage circumstances leading Tatiana Suarez to at one point have a layoff of nearly 1,400 days. The California native is no stranger to lengthy competitive layoffs and the unbeaten pro MMA record speaks volumes to how successful Suarez has been returning from past octagon hiatuses.