Preview: UFC Fight Night 220 ‘Krylov vs. Spann’

Women’s Flyweights

Tatiana Suarez (8-0, 5-0 UFC) vs. Montana De La Rosa (12-7-1, 5-3-1 UFC)

ODDS: Suarez (-750), De La Rosa (+550)

There are a few entertaining fights on this card that should affect the UFC’s rankings, but the biggest story of the night figures to be the return of Suarez. A standout wrestler who was a hopeful for the 2012 Olympics, Suarez had those dreams dashed due to thyroid cancer but made a full recovery and managed to pivot to mixed martial arts in 2014. She made it to the UFC in short order, winning “The Ultimate Fighter” less than two years later, and immediately started charging up the ranks as a top strawweight prospect. She ran through current flyweight title challenger Alexa Grasso in just her third UFC bout, then followed that up with another rout over former strawweight champion Carla Esparza. A 2019 win over Nina Nunes, which at least saw Suarez survive the first adversity of her UFC career, figured to put her clearly in the title picture, but instead, her career has since been derailed due to a string of major injuries. Suarez now makes her return nearly four years later, and in an interesting wrinkle, she does so at flyweight against De La Rosa.

This is an excellent litmus test to see where Suarez sits at this point in her career and how suited she is to fight larger opposition, as De La Rosa is a well-rounded fighter who has simply struggled against better athletes. A solid wrestler in her own right, De La Rosa was a bit underrated as a prospect prior to her 2017 UFC debut, likely due to her strength of competition, as she had the bad luck to run into standout grapplers Mackenzie Dern and Cynthia Calvillo. However, De La Rosa proved her own grappling chops with submission wins in her first three UFC fights and has built out a solid striking game, even if she is hurt by a lack of speed and power. Again, that lack of high-level athleticism and explosiveness is what stands out about De La Rosa’s losses. She can go one-for-one in a striking match against Viviane Araujo but still come out the losing end, or find her wrestling stalled against the likes of Andrea Lee and Maycee Barber. Suarez figures to be strong enough to win a pure grind if she comes in anywhere close to her previous form, but there are some potential pitfalls. She tired in the closing stretches against Nunes and does not have much of a backup plan if things go south, as her game is rightfully built almost entirely around her wrestling. Nevertheless, she still gets the benefit of the doubt. The pick is Suarez via decision.

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Krylov vs. Spann
Muniz vs. Allen
Sakai vs. Mayes
Suarez vs. De La Rosa
Malott vs. Lainesse
Peek vs. Gonzalez
The Prelims