Daniel Cunningham
On the prelims of UFC 327 this Saturday night, we are going to see a pivotal matchup in the strawweight division. Top six contenders will battle it out as former title challenger and second ranked contender Tatiana Suarez (11-1) will take on sixth ranked contender Loopy Godinez (14-5).
Starting with Godinez, she entered the UFC back in 2021 as an undefeated LFA champion. However, she went just 3-3 in her first six fights inside the octagon. Since then, she’s gone 6-2 with her two losses coming against current champion Mackenzie Dern and former title challenger Virna Jandiroba. She won a decision over former champ Jessica Andrade in her last fight in August.
She’ll be taking on arguably the best wrestler in the division in Tatiana Suarez. Suarez won The Ultimate Fighter in 2016 and many pegged her as a future UFC champion. However, injuries completely derailed her career and she went nearly four years in between fights from 2019 to 2023.
Since returning in 2023, she’s gone 3-1 with her lone loss being a title loss to Zhang Weili last year. She did bounce back well in her last fight against Amanda Lemos in September.
UFC 327 Prediction
This fight is going to come down to Loopy Godinez in my opinion. I think she has the striking advantage, but she tends to engage her opponents in grappling and that’s going to be a mistake if she does that with Suarez. Suarez is going to be the stronger fighter and the better wrestler.
If Godinez keeps things at a distance at UFC 327, she has a good chance to win, but I’m expecting grappling in this matchup. With that, I think Suarez is going to be able to get the better of those exchanges and I’m expecting her to win a competitive decision.
Prediction: Tatiana Suarez by Decision
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