Kyle Anthony

THE PLAY: Tatiana Suarez -150

Back in 2019, Tatiana Suarez was the most hyped fighter in the women’s strawweight division. With an undefeated record, elite level wrestling, powerful takedowns and dominant top control mauling opponents on the mat. During her rise up the ranks she was widely viewed as a future champion. Then the injuries hit. She battled one health issue after another struggling to return to full strength and peak physical condition. After being sidelined for nearly two years, Suarez returned in 2023 looking sharp picking up back-to-back submission victories and appearing back on track. Unfortunately, more health problems surfaced, forcing her out of the cage for another two years. When she finally returned in 2025 after a long layoff the UFC immediately tested her against champion Weili Zhang. Suarez won the first round convincingly, but she gassed out badly in the second and was dominated over the final four rounds losing a clear decision. It was a flat performance overall, she was out struck 53-12 across five rounds and landed just 1 of 15 takedown attempts. Weili’s superior physicality completely neutralized her wrestling. In her next fight, Suarez bounced back with a hard-fought decision win over tough veteran Amanda Lemos. Despite the recent struggles and injury history, I see this weekend as a strong buy-low opportunity on Tatiana. There are valid concerns, but the stylistic matchup against Loopy Godinez plays right into her strengths. Loopy is a gritty, scrappy fighter who’s decent in most areas but elite in none. She has ok hands, serviceable wrestling and solid durability, yet she consistently makes strategic mistakes. Striking when she should wrestle and wrestling when she should be striking. If she slips up in any grappling exchange against Suarez, Tatiana will absolutely capitalize on it. The path to victory for Suarez is clear: use her size advantage to pressure, bully Loopy to the mat and dominate positionally. She’s the bigger, stronger fighter and should be able to impose her wrestling game. Both of Loopy’s last two losses came against opponents who hunted for takedowns and controlled her. Even Mackenzie Dern, despite her own weak wrestling and a career takedown success rate of just 18% still managed to land 2 of 5 takedown attempts against Godinez. Virna Jandiroba also secured two takedowns with over six minutes of control time in her win. The pattern is obvious, when fighters get Loopy to the ground they win the fight. That’s exactly what I expect Tatiana to do on Saturday night. Securing top control, bank rounds with dominant positioning and grind out a clear victory. Give me Tatiana in a solid bounce back spot.