Tatiana Suarez submits Loopy Godinez at UFC 327

The UFC 327 preliminary fight card featured an enormous fight in the women's strawweight division. No. 2 ranked former title challenger Tatiana Suarez clashed with No. 6 ranked Loopy Godinez with title picture implications on the line.

Suarez rebounded in her last fight defeating Amanda Lemos in September after coming up short against former champion Zhang Weili in her previous outing. Godinez entered the bout coming off back-to-back wins, including a decision victory over former champion Jessica Andrade last August.

They exchanged leg kicks to start the action. Suarez bounced on the outside pawing with her jab. Godinez stepped the pocked with a clean right hand that hurt Suarez. She followed Suarez to the canvas and unloaded right hands. Suarez worked her way back to her feet but was slammed back to the canvas. Suarez again got to her feet and took Godinez down with three minutes left in the round. She worked from the half guard position and delivered short punches and elbows to the body and head. Godinez worked her way to full guard but Suarez continued to land shorts. MMAWeekly scored the round 10-9 for Suarez.

Suarez took the center of the octagon to start the second frame. She inched forward behind her jab and clinched. She drug Godinez to the ground and took her back in the process. She worked to lock on a rear-naked choke. Godinez fought to defend the submission attempt but was forced to tap out.

The official time of the submission finish was 2:29 of the second round.