UFC on Fox 11 winner Miesha Tate already has a list of opponents in mind for her next fight following a victory over fellow former UFC women’s bantamweight title challenger Liz Carmouche on Saturday night.
At the post-fight press conference, “Cupcake” respectfully listed Sarah Kaufman, Holly Holm and Gina Carano as those whom she’d like to square off with next inside the Octagon, per Bloody Elbow.
“I think Sarah Kaufman would be a good fight. I lost that one in Strikeforce. How about Holly Holm? She wants to climb her way to the top, I’d be a great starting point.” When asked if she’d be interested in fighting Gina Carano, Tate responded, “I’d like it. I’ll take that fight all day long, for sure. I mean, I’ll fight anybody, but I’d love to fight Gina.”
While Tate is just 2-3 in her past five contests, two of those losses were to UFC women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey.
According to the UFC’s official rankings (prior to the win over Carmouche), Tate was still the No. 3 female 135-pound fighter in the world.
Carano, who hasn’t fought since August 2009, for weeks had been rumored to sign with the UFC to set up a superfight with Rousey, but those rumors have died out since Rousey was booked to fight Alexis Davis at UFC 175 on July 5.
A week-and-a-half ago, Tate told Fox Sports it would be unfair to give Carano a title shot right off the bat, given her extended layoff from the fight game.
The interview was also the first time she expressed an interest in a bout with Carano.
Meanwhile, Holm, a three-division boxing champion with a 33-2-3 record in the ring, is 7-0 as a professional mixed martial artist and was negotiating with the UFC late last year.
However, it appears UFC President Dana White wasn’t interested in starting Holm off with a six-figure salary, so it remains to be seen what the future holds for the 32-year-old striker.
Finally, Tate and Kaufman traded leather under the Strikeforce banner back in May 2009, with Kaufman getting her hand raised after a hard-fought decision.
With no clear title contenders past Davis and Cat Zingano, who makes the most sense for Tate to throw down with next inside the Octagon?
John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
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