Weili Zhang might need to re-assess the danger Tatiana Suarez brings to the Octagon! From the moment she wrapped a D’Arce choke around Amanda Cooper’s neck to win The Ultimate Fighter in 2016, her rise to UFC gold felt inevitable. The only thing that’s ever slowed her down? Injuries.

A neck injury derailed her Olympic wrestling dreams. A cancer diagnosis nearly took everything. But Suarez never stopped fighting. Now, at UFC 312, she finally gets her shot at the strawweight throne against Zhang. And according to Sean Strickland, the world has yet to see just how terrifying she can be when the cage door locks!

Sean Strickland puts Weili Zhang on alert with a terrifying story about Tatiana Suarez’s sparring sessions  

Sean Strickland, known for his unfiltered thoughts as much as his fighting prowess, has trained alongside Tatiana Suarez at Millennia MMA in California. And if you think her dominance in the Octagon is impressive, you should’ve seen her in the gym.

At the recent UFC 312 press conference, Strickland recalled, “So back in the day in Millennia, she’s sparring, she’s beating up this guy, has this mother**ker in full mount just dropping hell on this guy.”

That’s not surprising. Suarez’s wrestling pedigree makes her a nightmare on the mat. She’s been grappling since she was three years old, mastering sequences before most kids even learned to tie their shoes. So, what happened next?

Strickland continued by sharing, “And her coach at the time, a guy named Batiste, you know, real lazy f**ker. He was like, I mean she’s dropping heat, and then Batiste’s like, “whoa Tatiana, like chill out. Cha-Cha drops in the heat looks at him and says, “f**k you, Batiste!” And just keeps f**king blasting this guy’s face.”

The former UFC middleweight champion ended his story with high praise for Tatiana Suarez as he proclaimed, “So it’s like dude, Tatiana’s a scary b**ch dude. I mean, straight scary. Like if she was a f**king man, I’d have to shoot her.”

Strickland isn’t the only one who’s witnessed Suarez’s ferocity. The undefeated contender has run through the strawweight division like a wrecking ball, racking up dominant finishes over former champions like Carla Esparza, Alexa Grasso, and most recently, Jessica Andrade in 2023.

Her blend of elite wrestling, suffocating pressure, and ruthless ground-and-pound make her a puzzle no one has solved. Suarez doesn’t just take opponents down—she drowns them. And now, she’s preparing to do the same to Weili Zhang.

Suarez is ready to prove a point against Zhang at UFC 312  

Some fighters claim destiny, but for Tatiana Suarez, it feels like a long detour to claim her rightful place at the top of the UFC’s strawweight division. She was on the fast track after winning The Ultimate Fighter in 2016, but injuries turned her ascent into a waiting game. Despite fighting only six times since her dominant performances were enough to secure a title shot at UFC 312.

At the recent pre-fight press conference, Suarez was asked if she expected to be champion earlier. In a straightforward response, she shared, “Yes, absolutely. I think at the time, I think at the time maybe even Joanna [Jedrzejczyk] had it [the belt]. I would have had the opportunity to face her as well, maybe even Rose [Namajunas], because she was in the mix then too, now she’s switched weight classes up.”

Instead, Suarez now faces Zhang, a champion who has already beaten Jedrzejczyk twice. That’s all the motivation she needs. How? The title challenger revealed, “Now I can go ahead and still face someone who actually beat Joanna twice. So I can still kind of prove that here, even a few years later.”

Sean Strickland saw firsthand what Suarez is capable of when there were no cameras, no bright lights, just raw, unfiltered savagery in the gym. Now, the world gets to see it too at UFC 312. Will Tatiana Suarez fulfill her destiny, or will Weili Zhang prove to be the immovable object to Suarez’s unstoppable force?  Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!