Tatiana Suarez 'really struggled' through UFC 327 camp, seeks answers

Tatiana Suarez once again endured challenges getting to the octagon for her UFC 327 win over Loopy Godinez, and she hopes to find answers before her next fight.

Suarez (12-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) delivered a statement performance by becoming the first to stop Godinez in MMA competition courtesy of a second-round choke. She now has back-to-back wins after falling short of the strawweight belt vs. then-champ Zhang Weili in February 2025, and she's on the short list of potential challengers for current titleholder Mackenzie Dern.

For Suarez, who is a thyroid cancer surviver after being diagnosed at 19, health issues have been an unfortunate – and also inspirational – part of her story. Injuries and other setbacks have limited her to just 10 octagon appearances in the nearly decade since she won Season 23 of "The Ultimate Fighter" reality series in July 2016.

When Suarez, 35, has shown up, though, she has only found herself to be beatable on one night by one opponent. She is still determined to get her hands on that 115-pound title, so when she was forced to battle through issues with fatigue throughout her UFC 327 training camp, it raised red flags.

"I had a really long camp and things happen during camps and stuff, so I'm just trying to heal up with all of those things and make sure when I go back to training I'm 100 percent healthy," Suarez told MMA Junkie. "I really struggled this camp with energy this camp, and I don't know if it was because I was training so hard and I'm now going to go ahead and try to figure those things outs when I go into the next camp, I don't have that issue. I've had cancer in my past and stuff like that, so when I'm going to through those things, I have to be a lot more mindful than other people. I also don't have a thyroid because it was removed. That is a challenge for the regular person, let alone a high-level athlete.

"I need to figure those things out so that I know when I go into the next camp I'm not calling my nutritionist like, 'OK, what's going on? Why do I feel like sh*t every day?' I'm going to have a tough fight next. All the fights I'm going to be having are super tough fights because I'm fighting the best in the world. So I'm just making sure what's all dialled in. If they say, 'Tatiana, you're going to be fighting at this time,' I want to be ready, and I want to have a really healthy and good camp."