Unbeaten at 8-0, Regina Tarin eyes WWE alongside UFC after Noche debut

Regina Tarin arrived in the UFC by the narrowest of margins — three days after earning a spot in WWE, the 21-year-old Mexican flyweight received a call from the octagon and chose fighting over professional wrestling. She has not closed the door on doing both.

Tarin, who improved to 8-0 with a decision win over Ernesta Kareckaite on her short-notice UFC debut in February, returns this Saturday at Noche UFC in Glendale, Arizona to face flyweight veteran JJ Aldrich in what will be her first fight with a full training camp behind her.

“They reached out to me directly on Instagram and told me about going to the WWE tryouts,” Tarin told MMA Fighting. “I showed up, I made it into WWE, but three days later I got a call from UFC, so, well, passion comes first.”

The WWE and UFC now sit under the same corporate umbrella — TKO Group Holdings, formed in late 2023 — which could create a path for Tarin to cross over in the future. With more than 500,000 Instagram followers, she already carries the kind of platform that makes her attractive to both promotions.

“Of course, I’d consider doing it later, maybe alongside MMA, or even at the same time, I don’t know,” Tarin said. “But right now my priority is MMA, my priority is UFC, my priority is winning fights and maybe in the future we’ll see it happen.”

Tarin brings a 75 percent finishing rate into Saturday’s bout, with four of her eight wins coming by knockout. Her nickname, “Kill Bill”, is a nod to the Quentin Tarantino character Beatrix Kiddo — portrayed by Uma Thurman — a choice she explained with characteristic directness: “She’s blonde, she’s crazy, and she wants to kill everyone. And she does it. So, that’s me.”

She is confident the performance against Aldrich will be a step up from her debut, pointing to the preparation she lacked first time around. “This time I had a full training camp. I had the opportunity to study my opponent, and making weight is going to be much easier this time,” she said. “I think now you’re going to see a prepared Regina — a Regina with a strategy, a game plan, and everything already in place for this war.”

Aldrich enters the fight having won back-to-back bouts over Andrea Lee and Jamey-Lyn Horth, with Saturday marking her 18th UFC appearance. Tarin acknowledged the experience gap but argued her lengthy amateur career before turning professional in 2023 narrows it considerably.

Tarin turns 22 in October.