If Tatiana Suarez’s rise as UFC champion was supposed to be inevitable, no one told Zhang Weili.
Zhang outclassed the previously undefeated Suarez in a statement-making defense of her UFC strawweight title on Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 312 at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia. In a remarkable display, Zhang dominated the action on the feet and even out-wrestled Suarez despite the challenger’s vaunted wrestling arsenal. In the end, the judges scored the bout 49-46, 49-46 and 49-45 for Zhang, giving her the unanimous decision and the third consecutive defense of her strawweight belt.
“I’m the underdog, it’s OK, I don’t care. I just kept going and just focused on myself,” Zhang said post-fight, having closed as a betting underdog despite coming in as the reigning champion.
Suarez had been hailed as a champion in waiting since winning “The Ultimate Fighter 23” with a dominant showing on the UFC reality series in 2016. A one-time USA wrestling hopeful whose Olympic dreams were dashed due to a cancer diagnosis, Suarez had been peerless throughout her Octagon run until Saturday night, defeating an array of former and future UFC champions — Jessica Andrade, Alexa Grasso and Carla Esparza — on her road to a title shot, only for injuries to repeatedly halt her momentum and limit her in-cage appearances. Suarez competed just five times in her first four years in the UFC, then was stuck on the sidelines from 2019-23. Injuries once again prevented her from competing in 2024.
But finally given her chance to compete for gold, Suarez quickly hit the brick wall that was Zhang.
After giving up a double-leg takedown in the opening round, Zhang (26-3) successfully defended Suarez’s next 14 takedown attempts, all while outstriking her challenger by a brutal margin of 232-63 in total strikes. Zhang even exerted her own offensive grappling, becoming the first woman in the UFC to land a takedown on Suarez (10-1) with a brilliant fourth-round inside trip and repeatedly reversing Suarez’s own attempts to then land in top control and go to work with punishing ground-and-pound.
Zhang, 35, consistently found a home for her right hand, including a third-round bomb that had Suarez, 34, in trouble. Suarez survived, but she was bruised and battered by the end of the 25-minute affair, and also hurting from a massive cut that opened on her right knee during a second-round scramble against the fence.
Zhang now owns four defenses of the UFC strawweight belt over two title reigns.
