The excitement around UFC 312 is palpable throughout the world of mixed martial arts. While the rematch between Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland has raised the entropy of the fighting community, the matchup between Zhang Weili and Tatiana Suarez was equally exciting. But the excitement went further up when the UFC women’s strawweight champion assessed her opponent and acknowledged the dangers she would bring into the Octagon. 

During a conversation with ESPN’s McKenzie Pavacich before the UFC 312, ‘Magnum’ was asked if there was any challenge that Suarez brought to the table that propelled Weili to be extra careful. And Weili replied, “Tatiana grappling so good. Wrestling… Because 3 years, she begin her training, wrestling, so good. She’s a wrestler fighter. I think she submit, bjj, and grappling is so good. But I want her to try. I want her. I like her high-level fighter fight, because… I’m so excited.” 

Even though she knew pretty well that the undefeated Californian had about 50% of her wins coming from submissions, the Chinese champion didn’t back down from planning to grapple a bit against Suarez. After all, she was motivated by Bruce Lee’s words and welcomed the challenge thrown at her. And all that she wanted now was to focus on winning the upcoming bout.

Getting excited to fight her opponent in the realm where she excelled truly showed the strength and courage that Zhang Weili carried. On the other hand, Suarez has shown nothing but confidence with days left to UFC 312. Needless to say, the Californian will do her best to outwrestle the strawweight champion and claim the belt. 

Tatiana Suarez agrees that wrestling is her strong suit against Zhang Weili

During the UFC 312 media day, a reporter asked Suarez if she could actually break the Chinese star in her bout. And she confidently claimed that she could break anybody in the whole wide world. She believed that she was relentless and could keep going till the last second owing to her huge gas tank. But it was her grappling that she was so proud and confident about. 

Suarez said, “I have a series of attacks that I’m good at, and once I start flowing, it’s very, very hard to stop me. And in just grappling in general, they think that they’re safe, and all of a sudden they’re in a choke.” It was indeed her best attribute. Learning the art of grappling from the age of 3 certainly provided her with experience that put her on a pretty high pedestal. She continued, “She [Weili] says she has a lot of experience, but I also have a lot of experience in combat sports since I was a really young girl, and I carry that over to today.”

There is indeed a bit too much at stake in the fight. ‘Magnum’ would put her UFC strawweight championship title on the line. Meanwhile, Suarez would wager her 10-fight undefeated streak. All we need to do now is wait for the action to go loud on Saturday. 

Do you think Weili can make a strong stand against Suarez’s elite grappling skills at UFC 312? Who do you think would win if the co-main event would involve a lot of grappling? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.