Undefeated no10 UFC strawweight Tatiana Suarez on Jessica Andrade
Tatiana Suarez (10-0, fighting out of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif) looks to remain perfect against one of her toughest tests yet
No. 10 ranked strawweight contender
Five wins by submission, two via KO
Four first round finishes
Tatiana Suarez (10-0, fighting out of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif) looks to remain perfect against one of her toughest tests yet
No. 10 ranked strawweight contender
Five wins by submission, two via KO
Four first round finishes
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00 [SIDE CONVERSATION]
00:12 Hi, Tatia.
00:12 How's it going?
00:13 You guys can't hear me?
00:14 Can you hear me?
00:14 Yes, we can.
00:15 OK, that sounds better.
00:17 I was talking to myself for like a good 30 seconds
00:19 before you guys heard anything.
00:23 So hi, how's it going?
00:24 Great, how are you?
00:25 We're well, thank you.
00:27 So fight week here in Nashville, just kind of tell me
00:30 how you're feeling going into this week.
00:32 I'm feeling great.
00:33 Obviously, we've got to get the weight off.
00:35 But other than that, I feel great.
00:37 And I'm excited to fight on Saturday.
00:39 Kind of tell me what was going through your mind when
00:42 the fight kind of changed and you had a different opponent.
00:44 But it was kind of a win-win, right?
00:47 Yeah, absolutely.
00:49 I was a little nervous because I didn't know
00:51 what was going to happen.
00:53 I really liked that I was going to have
00:55 an opponent that was high in the rankings.
00:58 So I was really excited about that.
01:00 But I ended up getting someone that also is high
01:04 in the rankings and is a former world champion.
01:06 So I think it worked out.
01:07 When you have to kind of switch your gears and type of training
01:11 maybe for a different style of opponent,
01:13 opponent with different attributes,
01:14 kind of how do you guys make that adjustment?
01:18 I think I don't really formulate my training on my opponent.
01:24 I just focus on getting better as a martial artist.
01:27 And I know that there's styles.
01:30 They're predominantly a grappler,
01:32 predominantly a stand-up fighter.
01:33 But I choose to just get better as a martial artist.
01:39 And I think the victory will come just focusing on myself.
01:43 Obviously, Jessica is a former champion and whatnot.
01:46 Does that kind of excite you, just kind of the name value
01:49 that comes with fighting Jessica Andrade?
01:50 Yeah, absolutely.
01:52 Because I've already beat a former world champion
01:55 in Carlos Barza, a current champion in Alexa Grasso.
01:58 And then this will be my third world champion
02:01 that I am able to face and get a victory over.
02:05 Nice.
02:05 And obviously, coming back, you know,
02:07 straw weight and stuff like that,
02:08 just being back in your division,
02:10 kind of what does that mean to you?
02:12 Yeah, I'm excited to be back at straw weight.
02:15 The first fight was just getting in there, getting a victory.
02:20 And then this fight's just a little bit more focused
02:24 on my end goal, which is to become a world champion.
02:27 So I'm excited to be on that track of fighting
02:32 in my own weight class and getting a step closer
02:34 to becoming a world champion at straw weight.
02:38 What do you think about the difference in the career
02:41 paths?
02:41 Because I think Jessica has something like 24 fights
02:45 in the UFC now.
02:46 And she's been around since 2013.
02:49 But I mean, you, without the injuries,
02:51 you could have had a fair amount of fights in the UFC as well.
02:54 So is it disappointing at all that you
02:57 don't have more fights?
02:58 Or is it like, hey, at this point,
02:59 it's just what was set out for me?
03:02 Yeah, so I think I can't change that.
03:06 That's something I just cannot change.
03:09 But I've focused on being a great martial artist
03:13 all this time.
03:15 And come fight night, I'm just going
03:18 to show that I'm a great martial artist, regardless
03:23 of how many fights I have.
03:25 I've competed all over the world in a different sport.
03:28 So I have experience, even from a young age.
03:32 I started competing internationally
03:36 when I was like 15 years old, all over the world.
03:39 So I'm not going to put too much value into that.
03:43 What do you think about--
03:45 you've been doing a lot of work switching stances.
03:48 You're a southpaw.
03:49 You've been working a lot in orthodox.
03:51 So how does that feel, switching stances?
03:53 And how important do you think it
03:55 is to eventually transition and be able to fight
03:57 with both stances?
03:59 Yeah, I like to do it just because I'm just having fun.
04:02 You know what I mean?
04:02 I'm having fun.
04:03 I'm learning how to become--
04:07 like I said earlier, just becoming a better martial
04:09 artist, becoming a better fighter.
04:12 I like to mix everything in.
04:14 It's like an art.
04:16 It's like my canvas.
04:17 So I think just feeling comfortable in any stance,
04:23 in any position, and making sure that I'm seeing shots
04:27 and picking my shots wisely is something that I've really
04:30 focused on this camp.
04:32 And so yeah, I just like to do both
04:35 because I want to be versatile.
04:39 Is there a part of you that wants to get in there and stand
04:41 with Jessica Andrade?
04:42 Because I mean, we saw her against Aaron Blanchfield.
04:44 And Blanchfield being the grappler,
04:46 she actually had some success on the feet with Andrade.
04:49 So is there a part of you that wants to be like,
04:51 you know what, I'm going to show off my hands as well
04:53 and hang in there as well?
04:55 I mean, I come there to--
04:57 I never have like a--
04:58 I'm never like, oh, I just want to get a takedown.
05:00 That's just what happens.
05:02 You know what I mean?
05:03 So for me, I'm going to go out there,
05:05 and I'm going to show my game, all of it, every single thing.
05:09 I'm not going to go--
05:11 I'm not sitting out there to be like, oh, I'm only
05:13 going to stand with Jessica because I'm so stubborn
05:15 or whatever it may be.
05:16 I'm just going to do whatever feels natural to me
05:20 is what I'm going to do.
05:21 And I know fighters don't like to look
05:23 past the fight that's currently ahead of them.
05:25 But I mean, Jessica is number five in the world right now.
05:28 So you get a win over Jessica Andrade,
05:31 I mean, say you even finish her, is there a chance that you're
05:34 like, hey, you know what, I'm going to jump right
05:36 into this title picture?
05:38 Yeah, absolutely.
05:39 I think that I can get a title fight after this.
05:43 I know that Jan's in there too, in the mix.
05:46 But I think that I'm also--
05:50 I think that I should also be up there too.
05:52 Because like I said earlier, I have--
05:55 this would be my third world champion that I beat.
05:57 And so who's to say that I don't deserve that shot?
06:01 Do you have any thoughts on Rose moving up a division?
06:04 I'm really excited to see the fight.
06:06 She's going to fight Manon, right?
06:08 And I think that's going to be a great fight.
06:11 And I'm excited to see how she does at the new weight class.
06:13 Sweet.
06:14 I know after your last fight, you
06:19 cited having some back issues after the De La Rosa fight.
06:22 I was just wondering, is that 100% now?
06:23 Is that all cleared up?
06:25 No, actually I had the back issues during the fight camp.
06:29 So I wasn't really able to train like I usually do.
06:32 But it went-- I went away.
06:35 And I've focused-- that's kind of why
06:37 I took a little time off.
06:38 Like I fought in February.
06:40 I just wanted to focus on my back health,
06:42 making sure that I'm healthy so that I can train fully
06:44 and have a healthy camp and train the way I want to do.
06:47 You know, I want to train super hard.
06:50 You know, I like training hard.
06:52 I enjoy it.
06:52 I like being--
06:54 I like going out there and pushing myself and making sure
06:58 that I feel 100% ready when I step in the cage.
07:02 And that makes me super confident
07:04 when I get into the cage.
07:06 So after this fight, you know, all things play out well.
07:09 You know, you come out relatively unscathed.
07:12 Is there a goal to maybe fight again this year?
07:14 Yeah, absolutely.
07:15 That's the plan.
07:16 I want to fight again this year.
07:17 Thank you.
07:22 [BLANK_AUDIO]