Miesha Tate is back again.
UFC Austin saw the former women’s Bantamweight champion return to action for the first time in over one year and do so in her longtime division after a rough stint at 125 pounds. In doing so, Tate dominated her opponent, Julia Avila, with her stellar wrestling abilities en route to a unanimous decision.
Tate, 37, ideally would like one more run as champion in the freshly opened 135-pound division. To get there, she’s more than happy to run things back with the woman she won the belt against, Holly Holm (preferably at UFC 300).
“People still think for some reason that I was just getting my ass kicked in that fight,” Tate said on The MMA Hour. “People still were like, ‘Man, that was like the greatest comeback ever, like, so lucky you got that submission.’”
Tate dethroned Holm at UFC 196 in March 2016. After a compelling first four rounds that saw Tate down on the judges’ scorecards outside of a 10-8 in her favor from round two, Tate pulled off a Hail Mary to get the win. Shooting in for a takedown late, “Cupcake” worked her way to Holm’s back and ultimately pulled off a rear-naked choke to seal the deal and hear “and new.”
The closing sequence likely would have been enough to get Tate the win had she been unable to secure the submission. Therefore, she still wouldn’t have lost the bout, which she feels needs reminding to the fans.
“Yes, because the title was on the line — if I didn’t get the submission, it would have been a draw,” Tate said. “Technically, if we were [going to] the scorecards, had I won the last round. Let’s say I just rode her out, and it was kind of like round two, and I didn’t get the sub on the scorecards, it would have been a draw, and I don’t think many people remember that. So it kind of pisses me off, because she won Round 1, 10-9. I won round two 10-8 on all three scorecards. And then round three, she won, 10-9. Round four, she won 10-9, and round five, if I had won a 10-9, we’re at a draw.
“So it still bothers me that people think that — like they always come to me like, ‘Oh man, she was getting her’ — I look at the comments, go look at any comments that ‘she was getting her ass kicked, kicking her ass until she got that submission.’ It’s like, not really.”
Tate is 2-4 in her six fights since defeating Holm, but she retired two fights after their encounter before coming back in July 2021 after a five-year absence. Holm, on the other hand, is 5-5 since the Tate loss and most recently suffered a second round ninja choke submission loss to Mayra Bueno Silva in July 2023. However, the loss was eventually overturned to a no contest when Bueno Silva tested positive for the use of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medicine.
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