Fresh off of a thrilling win over Holly Holm, followed by the signing of a new UFC contract, women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate will make her first defense against Amanda Nunes on July 9th at UFC 200.
Contrary to what UFC president Dana White said last month, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate will not be making her first title defense against Ronda Rousey. In an announcement made on Wednesday’s episode of UFC Tonight, Tate will fight Brazil’s Amanda Nunes at UFC 200 at the newly opened T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The promotion’s big pay-per-view is set for Saturday, July 9th.
Tate (18-5) won the women’s bantamweight title with a dramatic 5th round rear-naked choke of Holly Holm in the UFC 196 co-main event. “Cupcake” was behind 38-37 on the scorecards, and while she nearly choked Holm out in (a 10-8) round 2, she successfully handed Holm her first defeat with just 90 seconds left in the fight. The 29-year-old started her UFC career 0-2, which included a 2nd loss to Ronda Rousey, but has since won 5 straight en route to becoming champion. Earlier this week, Tate signed a new contract with the UFC, which is quite the tale considering she was contemplating retirement over losing her initial title shot to Holm last year.
Nunes (12-4) is 5-1 inside the Octagon, with her only loss in the UFC is by 3rd round TKO to Cat Zingano. She opened the UFC 196 main card with a unanimous decision win over Valentina Shevchenko, although she faded badly in the 3rd round and had to hang on for the victory. Four of her UFC wins have come by stoppage, including an impressive 1st round submission win over former title challenger, Sara McMann, last August.
UFC 200 is headlined by a welterweight rematch between featherweight champion Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz, which was the UFC 196 main event over Holm vs. Tate. Also on the card is an interim featherweight title between former champ Jose Aldo and ex-lightweight champ Frankie Edgar, in a rematch of a fight won by Aldo at UFC 156 back in 2013.