{"id":36501,"date":"2026-01-08T22:27:56","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T22:27:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Former-Title-Challenger-Booked-Against-Rising-Mexican-Talent-at-UFC-327-199681"},"modified":"2026-01-08T22:27:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T22:27:56","slug":"former-title-challenger-booked-against-rising-mexican-talent-at-ufc-327","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/former-title-challenger-booked-against-rising-mexican-talent-at-ufc-327\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Title Challenger Booked Against Rising Mexican Talent at UFC 327"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

With Weili Zhang<\/a>
\ntemporarily in another division, the
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a>\u2019s strawweight title picture may
\nbe wide open.<\/p>\n

Two-time champ Zhang surrendered her 115-pound belt after beating
\nTatiana
\nSuarez<\/a> at UFC 312 in early 2025. When she relocated to
\nchallenge Valentina
\nShevchenko<\/a> at flyweight, she left behind a throne later assumed
\nby Mackenzie
\nDern<\/a> after she outworked Virna
\nJandiroba<\/a>. Suarez (11-1), in her second outing since suffering
\nher first pro defeat, has been matched against Lupita
\nGodinez<\/a> (14-5) at UFC 327<\/a>.
\nThe two will tangle on April 11 at the currently unconfirmed event
\nlikely held at the Kaseya Center in Miami, with the news of this
\nbooking first reported by ufc_mma_wmma_wwrestling<\/a> on Instagram on Wednesday
\nnight.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A Title Shot Could Loom for the Victor<\/h2>\n

Both ladies winning their last bout\u2014Godinez currently rides a
\ntwo-fight win streak\u2014leads this high-stakes affair into one that
\nmight come with a championship opportunity for the prevailing
\nwoman. Suarez has once vied for the strawweight throne, while
\nGodinez has a history with champ Dern as the jiu-jitsu ace handed
\nGodinez her most previous defeat.<\/p>\n

Since dropping two to the aforementioned Dern and Jandiroba,
\nGodinez has looked up, with a 2025 campaign that saw her hand
\nraised twice. The woman from Mexico picked up decision nods over
\nJulia
\nPolastri<\/a>, and most significantly, ex-champ Jessica
\nAndrade<\/a> to place herself in position to face the top-ranked
\nSuarez. As a professional, \u201cLoopy\u201d has heard the final bell in 16
\nof her 19 appearances.<\/p>\n

While Suarez has gone the distance in her last two, her finish rate
\nstands at a significantly higher 64%\u2014compared to Godinez at 21%.
\nThe lone blemish in Suarez\u2019 career came against Zhang, with the
\nCalifornia native winning her first 10 pro outings. On her way up,
\nshe too bested Andrade, while also picking up victories over elite
\nnames like Alexa
\nGrasso<\/a> and Carla
\nEsparza<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
<\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Weili Zhang temporarily in another division, the Ultimate Fighting Championship\u2019s strawweight title picture may be wide open. Two-time champ Zhang surrendered her 115-pound belt after beating Tatiana Suarez at UFC 312 in early 2025. When she relocated to challenge Valentina Shevchenko at flyweight, she left behind a throne later assumed by Mackenzie Dern after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36502,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}