Undefeated no10 UFC strawweight Tatiana Suarez on Jessica Andrade

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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

Transcript

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]

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