Tatiana Suarez did not wait long to say what she wants next.
“I think that is the fight to make.”
One night after outwrestling Virna Jandiroba at UFC Vegas 124, the No. 2 strawweight told reporters the division's next title fight is obvious: her against champion Mackenzie Dern.
"I'm No. 2 and [Jandiroba's] No. 3," Suarez said at the post-fight press conference. "I guess [Zhang] Weili, but we don't know what's going on with Weili, right? And then it's just Mackenzie. So I'm just thinking that, yeah, that would be a good fight. I think that's the fight to make."
The win itself left little to argue about. Suarez (13-1, 10-1 UFC) controlled Jandiroba across three rounds in Saturday's co-main event at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas, setting the pace with her wrestling, taking the fight to the canvas, and escaping a kneebar in the second round that the bell broke up. All three judges scored it for Suarez.
It was her third straight win since her first title attempt ended in defeat — a unanimous decision loss to Zhang Weili in February 2025, the only loss of her professional career.
The champion she wants has her own history with the woman Suarez just beat. Dern (17-5, 12-5 UFC) won the vacant strawweight title by beating Jandiroba at UFC 321 in October 2025, then defended it once, outpointing Gillian Robertson at UFC 330 in August. She has won four straight, and she has beaten Jandiroba twice — the first time in December 2020.
Suarez knows the matchup. She called Dern's striking improved and her jiu-jitsu vicious, and said she would prepare for the champion much as she did for Jandiroba — a similar kind of fighter, in her words.
There is one thing Suarez did not claim: the fight is not booked. The UFC has not announced when Dern will defend next or against whom. Suarez herself said she does not think she will fight again in February, and suggested April as a target.
The rest of the division's picture is unsettled. Former champion Zhang Weili vacated the 115-pound belt to chase a flyweight title fight, lost to Valentina Shevchenko in November 2025, and there is no public timeline for her return to strawweight.
That leaves Suarez, on a three-fight winning streak with a win over the division's other leading contender, as the most logical challenger. She has now made the case in the only language that counts: a win over the next woman in line.
