Tatiana Suarez Sees UFC Vegas 124 as Route to Mackenzie Dern Title Fight

Tatiana Suarez has a clear stake in the UFC strawweight title picture: beat Virna Jandiroba at UFC Vegas 124 on November 7, and she believes a shot at champion Mackenzie Dern should follow. That would extend Suarez’s winning streak to three and put her in position to challenge for the belt in 2027.

The matchup carries weight beyond the result on one night. Suarez and Jandiroba are both near the top of the division, and Suarez says the winner should be next in line. For her, a victory would turn a title ambition into a direct claim based on recent form and a high-profile win over another leading contender.

A title claim built on the next result

Suarez last fought for the belt against Weili Zhang in February 2025, losing in Australia. Since then, she has beaten Amanda Lemos and Loopy Godinez. A win over Jandiroba would make three consecutive victories since that setback and give her a fresh case for another title opportunity.

“Yeah, absolutely, because we’re at the top of the division other than Weili,” Suarez told reporters at media day when asked whether the winner should challenge for the title in 2027. “I just feel like it makes sense that we’re gonna be next in line for the belt.”

That argument depends first on the fight itself. Jandiroba is the only woman ranked above Suarez in the Meta UFC women’s strawweight rankings, so beating her would answer a key question about where Suarez stands among the division’s leading contenders. A win would also give her a direct result to point to as she makes her case for the next title fight.

There is a second moving part: Weili, ranked No. 1, has yet to decide on her future and a possible return to strawweight after her unsuccessful attempt to win the flyweight championship. That uncertainty could affect the order of the next title challengers. Suarez’s own view is straightforward: she and Jandiroba are at the front of the queue, and the winner deserves the opportunity.

What Suarez says she learned from Weili

Suarez entered the Weili fight unbeaten at 10-0, but the loss exposed her to adversity she had not faced in competition before. She says the experience changed how she thinks about difficult fights and showed her what needs work ahead of another title opportunity.

“I took a lot from that fight, obviously,” Suarez said. “There’s just no way you don’t take anything from a loss, you know? For me, it’s helped me in a lot of ways mentally.”

Her reflection wasn’t limited to the result. Suarez said she kept pressing after taking hard shots, but also came away with a sharper understanding of how preparation, skill and fight IQ matter when the stakes rise. That account offers a useful measure of how she sees a second title run: she isn’t treating the first defeat as a reason to abandon her approach, but as a test that showed her where she can improve.

“Up until that point, I’ve never faced any adversity in a fight,” she said. “So, that was the first time I’ve ever had to face any type of adversity, and I never stopped coming. I always kept trying.”

The distinction matters because another title shot would come against a different opponent and under different circumstances. Suarez would be trying to convert what she learned from losing to Weili into a stronger performance against Dern. That remains a possibility rather than a certainty, though: the immediate job is to get past Jandiroba, who is herself positioned to make a title claim.

The road back has taken time

Suarez has been pursuing a strawweight title since winning The Ultimate Fighter in 2016. Her progress was interrupted by injuries that kept her out for four years; she returned to competition in 2023. She was widely tipped for success before that absence, but the route back has required her to rebuild her standing through a run of fights.

The February 2025 defeat ended her unbeaten record, yet her two subsequent victories have restored momentum. The Jandiroba bout now gives that run a sharper purpose: a win would bring Suarez to three straight and put her ahead of a highly ranked rival in the argument for a title fight.

Dern is the prospective target if Suarez gets that opportunity. The champion defeated Jandiroba to claim the belt, giving Suarez a clear reference point as she prepares to face the same opponent. But that past result doesn’t settle what happens next. Suarez still has to win her own matchup before any comparison with Dern can become relevant.

UFC Vegas 124 takes place ahead of the main event between Johnny Walker and Waldo Cortes-Acosta at heavyweight, with Suarez among the card’s most prominent names. For the strawweight division, her result could help clarify who is best placed to challenge Dern in 2027. A third straight win would strengthen Suarez’s case; a loss would leave Jandiroba with the clearest claim from their head-to-head matchup.

Suarez’s route to a second title fight is therefore simple to describe and demanding to deliver: beat Jandiroba, then make the case that her recent form and experience against Weili have prepared her for Dern. The first step on that route comes at UFC Vegas 124.