Tatiana Suarez Recalls Run-In With Khamzat Chimaev: ‘He Tried To Wrestle Me In The Sauna’
UFC strawweight contender, Tatiana Suarez has revealed that her fellow undefeated force, Khamzat Chimaev always attempts to engage in some playful sparring when they cross paths at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas, Nevada – explaining how he recently attempted to instigate a wrestling match during a sauna session.
Tatiana Suarez, who most recently competed at the strawweight limit, has been sidelined from active competition since June 2019 when she defeated Nina Nunes with a unanimous decision victory at UFC 238. The victory earned The Ultimate Fighter 23 tournament victor her eighth consecutive professional win and maintained her undefeated record.
In the time since, a series of neck and back injuries, as well as a knee injury suffered back in July of last year, have limited Suarez’s activity in the Octagon – resulting in her official removal from the strawweight rankings.
The Californian was briefly set to feature in a flyweight divisional bow against the now-retired, Roxanne Modafferi at UFC 266 last September, until injury ruled her from proceedings, with incoming UFC 275 co-headliner and title challenger, Talia Santos replacing her as a result.
Tatiana Suarez has been widely tipped to eventually land UFC championship spoils
A dominant grappler, Suarez lifted the TUF 23 crown with a submission win over Amanda Cooper, before then landing UFC victories over the quartet of Vivane Pereira, Alexa Grasso, former champion and incoming title chaser, Carla Esparza, as well as the above mentioned, Nunes.
Commenting on the upcoming UFC 273 clash between the above noted, Chimaev and the #2 ranked contender, Gilbert Burns this weekend in Jacksonville, Florida – Suarez recounted a story involving Chimaev attempting to grapple with her in a sauna recently.
“Whenever he (Khamzat Chimaev) sees me at the PI (Performance Institute) he comes up and kicks me – like shin to shin,” Tatiana Suarez told Helen Yee during a recent interview. “I’m like, ‘What are you doing? We don’t even have shin pads on.’ I’m like, whatever it’s okay.”
“A real great friendship, he (Chimaev) just comes over and – the other day, he was trying to like, wrestle me in the sauna,” Tatiana Suarez said. “I’m like, ‘Dude, what is happening right now.’ I’m like, ‘No, let’s not do this right here.’”
Suarez, 31, is still yet to return to the Octagon since her 2019 victory over Nunes, however, confirmed that she is targeting a summer UFC comeback, and still hopes to test flyweight waters after previously noting how she had experienced a performance drop off following her usual cut to the strawweight limit of 115lbs.
