Tatiana Suarez's Moment Finally Arrives

"I think my battle with cancer was just an eye-opening thing for me,” she says, chatting with UFC.com in Las Vegas shortly before departing for Australia. “A lot of times, we go through these camps and we're like, 'oh my gosh, this is so hard.' But for me, I'm so grateful to be able to do something that I love even with injury after injury. Not that I didn't love it before, but now I'm just super grateful when I do feel super tired and sore and I'm like, 'you know what? I'm grateful that I can just be out there and I'm healthy and that I could do what I love.' Because I truly do love it. I'm so passionate about it. When I'm not training. I'm looking up videos on how to get better. Like whether it's boxing, kickboxing, jiu jitsu...I'm always trying to be the best martial artist that I can be.”

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Perhaps that sounds excessive, but the proof has been in the pudding for Suarez’s career to date. She remains undefeated 11 fights into her MMA career, and her hit list includes emphatic finishes over three former champions: Carla Esparza, Alexa Grasso and Jessica Andrade.

"I feel like the better the person is, the more I rise to the occasion. It's almost because they're good that I match that. I rise to their standard. Every opponent, I've just gone out there and tried to finish."