I beat cancer after it prevented me from competing at the London Olympics – now I am undefeated in UFC and fight for my first title

Tatiana Suarez was on the verge of representing a nation before receiving devastating news.

After feeling the throat pain after a wrestling tournament in France, a visit to doctors revealed that Suarez had thyroid cancer.

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Suarez had a malignancy in a variety of lymph nodes, and with cancer that had spread to her lungs, it left only a possible result.

At the age of only 21, Suarez had gone from dreaming of wrestling to Team USA at the London Olympics in 2012 to preparing for the operation needed to remove cancer.

“I thought I was definitely going to the Olympics to represent our country,” Suarez told Bleacher -Report In 2019.

“I only got better at the time. I hit a top; It was perfect timing for the Olympics. I was right there and now I couldn’t do it. “

After reviewing treatment, Suarez was isolated for a week when her recovery included radioactive iodine.

During this time, she turned to the one thing she knew how to do the best – wrestling – to create different workouts and wrestling exercises to stay motivated.

Although her Olympic dreams were crushed, a new goal was set in her mind: to become UFC master.

Now, 14 years later, Suarez, 34, is ready for something completely different as he prepares to challenge the UFC title.

It is a struggle that is difficult to describe as ‘the fight in her life’, considering what California has already experienced in her career.

“I’m right here to win a world title,” Suarez said On UFC 312’s ceremonial weigh -in Thursday night.

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“I know I’m the best in the world and I look forward to proving it on Sunday night.”

Suarez is undefeated in Pro MMA, after coming to UFC after winning the 23rd season of Ultimate Fighter in 2016.

She has finished four of her seven opponents with the help of submission, and her 65.8 percent removal attempt is the best in the UFC half -weight story.

Suarez endured a four -year hiatus from MMA between June 2019 and February 2023 due to injuries.

But when she returned to action in August 2023, it only took Suarez two rounds to score an emphatic victory over Montana de la Rosa before defeating former champion Jessica Andrade six months later to set up this title match.

Her opponent, Zhang Weili, is a two-time strawweight master, after losing only two-beers to Rose Namajunas-of her 11 bouts in the UFC.

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Suarez is a skilled wrestler who has been competing in the sport since three years, largely because of her family’s influence.

Her mother, Lisa, loved the sport, and her father introduced wrestling to her older brothers, who would continue to help a young Suarez try his hand in martial arts.

“When I was really young, I remember I would always fight against the boys and I would always win,” Suarez said.

“I remember how competitive I was and how much I would win. I would practice really hard. Even at a young age it was so important to me to win. “

Suarez was widely recognized from a very young age to have the potential to become one of the very best in Pro MMA.

In fact, one of her coaches, Mediss Mansouri, once compared her with Ronda Rusey, who led women’s MMA in a new light after her UFC Bantamweight victory in 2013.

Mansouri, who has been coaching since 1990, said he ‘knew’ Suarez would ‘become a star’ ever since he first saw her rolling on the mat.

Suarez is an old teammate of former UFC champion Sean Strickland who will fight after her in the main event of UFC 312.

Strickland seeks to take revenge in a new match for the UFC middleweight title with the Dricus du Plessis, which he fell the belt for last January.

The American trains with Suarez for millennia MMA, a fitness center in southern California, and remembered her when she once went very hard on a sparring opponent.

“I love Tatiana, guy,” he said on UFC 312 Media Day.

“… she has this m ***** f **** is in full assembly, just dropped hell on this guy,” he added. “Her coach at the time, a guy named Betiss (Mansouri), Real Lazy F *** is.

“I mean, she drops warm, and the amense is like, ‘Woah, Tatiana. Chill out.’ When she drops the heat, she looks at him, ‘F *** You Metriss!’ And just keeps blowing this guy’s face.

“So it’s like guy, Tatiana is a scary B ****, guy. Just scary. I mean, she was after man I should shoot her.”

The UFC 313 is expected to be a view with two title bouts in Co-Main and the headline.