The UFC women’s bantamweight champion was a guest on FOX Sports Live on Weds. night (April 6, 2016) and she spoke about her UFC 200 matchup against Amanda Nunes and her arch rival, Ronda Rousey.
Miesha Tate was making the media rounds this week to promote her upcoming UFC 200 bout against Amanda Nunes. “Cupcake” was a guest host on “UFC Tonight,” where the news on the bout became official, and later she joined Dan O’ Toole and Jay Onrait on “FOX Sports Live” to discuss her first title defense and a few other topics.
Tate, 29, defeated Holly Holm at UFC 196 by rear-naked choke to win the UFC women’s bantamweight title at the beginning of March, and said she is excited to get right back in the Octagon for the historical UFC 200 card, which takes place on July 9, 2016 (details).
“I’m so excited that I get such a quick turn around,” Tate said. “There has been so many times in my career where it’s been eight-month layoff, nine-month layoff, six-month layoff. This is going to be a really quick turn around and I get to make my first title defense against what I feel is a very formidable opponent. She is on a four fight win streak. Not that many other girls in the division… I think the only other one who is on a real win streak is Julianna Pena. So she is a very dangerous opponent and she comes out with a ferocious pace. She has incredible leg kicks. She looks like she hits like a Mack truck and I believe she is a black belt on the ground. She presents a lot of problems, but that is good because I want a challenge and I want someone to recognize the skill set that she brings to this because when I beat her…”
“Cupcake” paused as Onrait jokingly suggested maybe she was heaping too much praise for her upcoming opponent. Tate just wanted to make it clear that the No. 4-ranked UFC women’s bantamweight is a worthy contender.
“She’s definitely not going to be an easy feat, but I want people to understand she is a very viable opponent,” she said. “I want to go out there and I want to show the world why I’m the best.”
As for a rematch with Holm not happening, Tate said, “it really boils down to that Holly wasn’t a long-reigning champion. She lost the belt in her first defense. It wasn’t like I was getting crushed on the feet or something that was an epic… She was edging me for sure. She edged me three out of the five rounds. The second round was a 10-8 on all three of the judges scorecards and I finished her in the fifth round. So it didn’t go to a decision, it didn’t end up in a tie and I finished the fight and I’m looking to fight someone new, someone that I haven’t beat yet. And I think Amanda, being on that win streak and having that momentum and that confidence. I think that says more, beating her, than it would beating Holly again.”
Of course, as with most Tate interviews, she was asked about her arch rival and former UFC women’s bantamweight champion, Ronda Rousey. Tate had previously said in another interview that she believes Rousey has two fights left in her career. O’Toole asked whether or not Tate thinks one of them will be the trilogy fight between her and “Rowdy.”
“I sure hope so,” Tate said. “It’s gotta be. I feel like I have unfinished business there and I feel like I’ve finally hit the full balance of my career and I’m in a really good place right now. I’m training at Xtreme Couture. I have an amazing team behind me. Mentally, physically, emotionally, I’ve got all the check marks. I feel so good and so confident. And now you know, it’s like before you win the belt you always tell yourself, ‘I know I can win the belt. I think I can win the belt.’ But then when you win it it’s like, ‘I did it.’ It’s not just a thought anymore. I am capable of that. I’ve proven it to myself. I’ve proven it to the world. I’m going to do it again when I fight Amanda and then ideally I’d like to fight Ronda next.”