UFC CEO Dana White (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
After a day of confusing reports and false tweets, it appears that Tatiana Suarez is out of her title eliminator bout with Virna Jandiroba at UFC 310 on December 7 in Las Vegas. Jandiroba will still fight if he can, but he will need an opponent.
Tatiana Suarez is out of her UFC 310 fight, despite her deleted post
Tatiana Suarez is out of her UFC 310 bout with Virna Jandiroba. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via … [+]
MMA Fighting and Spinnin Backfist first reported the story, but Suarez responded with a now-deleted post saying:
“I was not hurt. I’m curious where you heard that. Why would you bring this up?”
It is hard to understand why Suarez would have posted this if he knew he was retiring. However, she didn’t say she wasn’t retiring; she said she was not hurt. This detail opens up the possibility that something else could force him to drop the UFC 310 card.
Virna Jandiroba wants to fight Weili Zhang at UFC 310 for the Strawweight title
Virna Jandiroba wants a title shot against Weili Zhang at UFC 310. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC … [+]
In any case, Suarez’s post-deletion appears to have confirmed the original report.
Jandiroba began looking for another opponent defending champion challenger Weili Zhang to defend her title on the card.
Weili hasn’t posted on X since 2018, so it seems unlikely that Jandiroba will get a response on that platform. However, it will be interesting to see if the champion is healthy enough and ready to defend her title.
Weili’s last title defense came at UFC 300 when she scored a unanimous decision win over Xiaonan Yan. By December, Weili will be inactive for eight months. That’s the longest inactive streak for any current UFC champion except Jon Jones, and he’s scheduled to defend his title against Stipe Miocic on Nov. 16 at UFC 309.
If the president of the UFC, Dana White and Co. grant Jandiroba her wish and Weili defends her title, the company’s final pay-per-view will feature three championship matches. The main event is now set, with UFC lightweight champion Belal Muhammad defending his title against Shavkhat Rahkmonov.
In the co-main event, UFC men’s flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja will defend his title against Japanese star and newcomer Kai Asakura. The prospect of making the ultimate pay-per-view a massive success in Asia could be enticing for the UFC.
However, there are or definitely were plans for Weili to defend her title at some point. That being said, due to Suarez’s injury history, having the champion on standby for this fight may have been a contingency plan from the start.
Mackenzie Dern has thrown her hat into the ring as a UFC 310 replacement
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 16: Mackenzie Dern poses at the weigh-in during the UFC 298 ceremony … [+]
Jandiroba didn’t call out Mackenzie Dern, but the No. 1 winner did. 6 rated in the UFC took to Instagram to say he would step in for Suarez to fight Jandiroba.
Dern has a fight with Amanda Ribas scheduled for Dec. 14 in Tampa, but she would miss that opportunity to have a chance to move into the Top 5 in her division.
Dern has beaten Jandiroba before. They met in 2020 and Dern won by unanimous decision. A rematch looks to favor Dern more than Jandiroba, so it will be interesting to see if the latter takes that fight.
Stay tuned as there is more information regarding Jandiroba’s fight and Suarez’s potential replacement at UFC 310.