Former title challengers booked for pivotal Noche UFC fight

The winner of this fight could set themselves up for another title shot.

(Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC)

One top contender will try to rebound from the first loss of her MMA career when she meets another ex-title challenger at Noche UFC.

Originally set to take place in Guadalajara, Mexico before being moved to the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, TX, this year’s edition of Noche UFC is headlined by recent featherweight title challenger Diego Lopes and surging contender Jean Silva.

Scheduled for September 13, the card has slowly started to take shape in recent weeks and has now added its most high-profile fight outside of the main event and the women’s bantamweight tilt between former UFC titleholder Raquel Pennington and Norma Dumont.

Raquel Pennington (red gloves) before a women’s bantamweight title bout against Julianna Pena (not pictured) during UFC 307. | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

Tatiana Suarez vs. Amanda Lemos Added To Noche UFC

First reported by Marcel Dorff, Tatiana Suarez will return to the Octagon after a failed title bid against Weili Zhang to face fellow top-ranked strawweight Amanda Lemos at Noche UFC.

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The two women were previously scheduled to meet at UFC 298 last year before Suarez withdrew from the fight, and later that year the 34-year-old also ended up pulling out of a UFC 310 matchup with Virna Jandiroba before being booked into a title fight with Zhang.

Tatiana Suarez (blue gloves) celebrates the win by submission over Jessica Andrade (red gloves). | Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

Long-tabbed as a future title challenger, Suarez ended a one-and-a-half-year layoff to enter the cage with “Magnum” at UFC 312 and suffered the first loss of her MMA career when she dropped a unanimous decision to the strawweight queen.

Amanda Lemos Hunting For Second Title Shot

Currently sitting at #4 in the UFC strawweight rankings, Lemos also came up short in her own title bid against Zhang when the pair met at UFC 292.

“Amandinha” rebounded with a win over Mackenzie Dern at UFC 298 following Suarez’s withdrawal from their original matchup, but in her next outing last July the Brazilian was submitted in the second round by her countrywoman and current #1 strawweight contender Virna Jandiroba.

Amanda Lemos (red gloves) fights Iasmin Lucindo (blue gloves) during UFC 313 at T-Mobile Arena. | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

Lemos returned to the win column earlier this year by defeating Iasmin Lucindo at UFC 313. A win over the #2-ranked Suarez could put the 38-year-old right back into the mix for a title shot, and the high-stakes strawweight bout joins a Noche UFC card that currently looks like this:

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• Main Event: Diego Lopes vs. Jean Silva

• Raquel Pennington vs. Norma Dumont

• Tatiana Suarez vs. Amanda Lemos

• Jared Gordon vs. Rafa Garcia

• Edgar Chairez vs. Alessandro Costa

• Jesus Aguilar vs. Luis Gurule

• Alice Pereira vs. Montserrat Rendon

• Claudio Puelles vs. Joaquim Silva

• Jose Medina vs. Dusko Todorovic

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