Tatiana Suarez injury: What kept the undefeated strawweight away from octagon since 2019?

Undefeated strawweight Tatiana Suarez recently returned to the octagon after a hiatus of almost four years. Suarez took on Montana De La Rosa in a one-off flyweight outing at UFC Vegas 70. The 32-year-old displayed her old brilliance, thoroughly dominating her opponent en route to a second-round submission win.

While she is finally back in action, Suarez has been robbed off several years of her prime due to injuries. She initially battled thyroid cancer in 2012 which shattered her Olympic dreams before making the move to MMA.

Suarez won TUF 23 to win a UFC contract and was running through the strawweight division before the long hiatus. She was being compared to Khabib Nurmagomedov going into her bout against Nina Nunes in 2019, when she suffered a neck injury.

After a two-year recovery process for disc issues and bone spurs, Tatiana Suarez was finally booked to make a return against Rozanne Modafferi at UFC 266 in 2021.

Suarez severely injured her knee during a training session, tearing up her ACL, LCL, MCL, and meniscus. The 32-year-old said at the UFC Vegas 70 pre-fight presser:

"When I got the knee injury it definitely was very discouraging for a couple of days, I literally just laid in my bed and cried. Then I picked myself up like I always do and I literally was on the aerodyne bike with one leg and two arms and just going H.A.M. and I was like, there’s nothing going to deter me from being what I think that I am destined to be and I believe that. So I just picked myself back up and then here I am.”

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Tatiana Suarez's injuries have not shattered her dreams of winning UFC gold

Losing out on almost four years of her prime did not deter Tatiana Suarez. The undefeated UFC contender has overcome too much in life to give up on the dream of being a UFC champion.

According to Suarez, the flyweight outing against Montana De La Rosa was more off a convenient gig for her after which she plans to return to 115 lbs. The 32-year-old then plans to make a run for the UFC strawweight title and defend it multiple times before thinking of a move-up.

Tatiana Suarez further said at the pre-fight presser:

"I think I’m going to be a champion and I think I can’t wait to get the belt and then defend as many times as I can...I want to defend my belt multiple times before I go up to flyweight and do all that stuff.”

Catch Suarez's comments below: