Tatiana Suárez: Rise in the UFC Strawweight Ranking After Victory

Tatiana Suarez, after her recent fight for the UFC strawweight championship in February, did not achieve victory. However, her performance on Saturday could have put her on track for another opportunity, thanks to an outstanding victory that boosted her position in the division’s rankings. In their previous title fight, Suarez, undefeated until that moment, faced Zhang Weili. Despite her previous dominance, Weili managed to thwart most of Suarez’s takedown attempts and secured the victory. Weili subsequently vacated the 115-pound title to compete at flyweight. With the vacant strawweight title, and awaiting the result of the fight between Virna Jandiroba and Mackenzie Dern on October 25, Suarez could be the next challenger. In Saturday’s UFC night, Suarez regained her fighting level and defeated Amanda Lemos, who was one spot above her in the rankings. With this victory, Suarez (11-1) climbed to number 4. Diego Lopes, winner of Saturday’s main event, remains in the number 3 spot in featherweight, because the fighter ahead of him in the ranking, Movsar Evloev, defeated him in a previous fight. Three other changes were made to the rankings, all due to the requirement that fighters compete in the last year or have a scheduled fight. Dan Hooker, Arnold Allen, and Norma Dumont were removed from the rankings due to inactivity.

Below are the MMA rankings and a list of the current UFC champions:

The results are current; the rankings correspond to September 16th. To be eligible for the ranking, a fighter must have competed in the last 12 months or have a scheduled fight. Fighters who have been retired due to inactivity can only be reinstated after competing.HEAVYWEIGHT (up to 265 pounds)