Weili Zhang puts on master class at UFC 312 to hand Tatiana Suarez first loss
Weili Zhang became the first fighter to defeat Tatiana Suarez and defended her strawweight in dominant fashion in the UFC 312 co-main event.
Weili Zhang became the first fighter to defeat Tatiana Suarez and in doing so Zhang defended her UFC strawweight title a third consecutive time.
The reigning 115-pound champion earned a one-sided unanimous decision victory over Suarez in the co-main event of UFC 312 early Sunday in Sydney, Australia.
The champion entered the match as a slight underdog but by the end of the five rounds it was abundantly clear that never should’ve been the case.
Suarez took the action to the ground within the first minute of Round 1 when the pair locked up in the middle of the cage, landing in side control and immediately pressuring from the top.
Zhang defended with veteran poise and regained her guard briefly and eventually managed to get back to her feet. Suarez was hasty on a guillotine choke attempt, Zhang escaped and Suarez finished the round on the bottom after racking up more than three minutes of top ground control.
The 35-year-old fighting out of Beijing was the faster fighter and far more comfortable on the feet, landing cleanly with both hands often, and after allowing that early takedown didn’t give up another. Zhang cracked Suarez with a right hand early in Round 3 that had Suarez stumbling backwards. Suarez persisted but it was a masterclass from the final minute of the opening round onward.
Zhang connected on a whopping 233 of her 283 total strike attempts, while Suarez only landed one significant head strike in the 25-minute bout and finished one for 16 on takedown attempts.
Zhang is a two-time champion who now has four total title defences — three during her current run and one during her first time as champion. Her first defence was her classic bout with Joanna Jedrzejczyk who still holds the division’s all-time record with five title defences that accumulated during her time atop the division from 2015 to 2017.
She was coming off a unanimous decision over Yan Xiaonan at UFC 300 last April. Her current winning streak is at five.
Zhang’s only missteps in her MMA career were a decision loss in her professional debut way back in 2013 and her back-to-back losses to Rose Namajunas in 2021.
Her first loss to “Thug Rose” was a stunning 78-second head kick knockout loss at UFC 261; the immediate rematch at UFC 268 ended in a split decision during which Namajunas used wrestling and control time to win the final two rounds and eke out a narrow victory.
Against Suarez, Zhang’s wrestling looked better than ever.
Suarez’s UFC’s appearances have been few and far between since she made her UFC debut in 2016 after winning a season of The Ultimate Fighter. In fact, she has only fought seven times since then, including her loss to Zhang, and it had been 18 months since Suarez last competed.
The 34-year-old from California entered UFC 312 with a 10-0 pro record including wins over former UFC champions Carla Esparza, Alexa Grasso and a submission win over Jéssica Andrade in August of 2023 that got her to the top contender spot.
Suarez is no stranger to setbacks both in and out of competition. She had her amateur wrestling career effectively ended due to a neck injury in 2012 while training for a spot on the United States Olympic wrestling team. Then, her life was derailed when scans she underwent at the time revealed she had thyroid cancer.
Since her successful cancer treatment her career has been riddled with injuries. Suarez withdrew from two scheduled matchups in 2024 and lost when she finally did return.
Now Suarez must regroup knowing what it’s like going five rounds with the top strawweight in the sport.
