Who is Tatiana Suarez's boyfriend and is he a UFC fighter?
UFC strawweight Tatiana Suarez is in a relationship with professional MMA fighter Christopher Sykes. The couple trains together at Millenia MMA - the California-based gym that Suarez has called home since she transitioned to MMA from freestyle wrestling.
Christopher Sykes has a 4-0 record as a professional MMA fighter and competes at bantamweight. His last fight was a second-round submission win over Chris Mendonza in CXF: Fall Brawl in November of 2017.
"Psycho" has mostly competed in regional MMA promotions like Gladiator Challenge and CXF. He has never competed in the UFC during his career. Sykes briefly made news back in the day when he knocked out his opponent in three seconds of an amateur MMA fight.
Tatiana Suarez and Christopher Sykes have gained a reputation as the hardest-working fighters at Millenia MMA. In a 2019 interview with Bleacher Report, Sykes stated that the couple was banned from training together in the gym due to their competitive nature.
“We’re both very competitive. For a long time, we weren’t allowed to drill or spar. We get mad at each other. It’s not cute,” said Christopher Sykes.
Tatiana Suarez will return to the competition this year
Ever since her days as a contestant on season 23 of The Ultimate Fighter, Tatiana Suarez (8-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) has been hailed as one of the biggest threats in the strawweight division.
However, the 30-year-old has not competed since her unanimous decision victory over Nina Nunes at UFC 238 in July of 2019. A series of injuries have kept Suarez out of competition for over two years.
While speaking to Ariel Helwani of ESPN in a recent interview, Tatiana Suarez stated that she is hopeful of making a comeback by August of this year. Although she has competed in the strawweight division so far, Suarez will fight at flyweight on her return to the Octagon.
The re-occurring injuries cost Tatiana Suarez a lot of time in the Octagon during her prime. However, the wrestling powerhouse has overcome bigger adversities in the past.
The California-native started wrestling when she was four years old and went on to win the bronze medal in freestyle wrestling on two occasions.
While training for the 2012 London Olympics, Tatiana Suarez was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and had to let go of her Olympic dream. She turned to MMA after undergoing successful treatment for her condition and went on to make her professional MMA debut in 2014.