Miesha Tate is not just itching to compete, she wants to become champion again.
Tate (18-7 MMA, 5-4 UFC), who hung up her gloves in 2016, will return to fighting when she faces Marion Reneau on July 17 in a women’s bantamweight matchup.
A pioneer of women’s MMA, Tate reached the pinnacle of the sport when she scored an incredible come-from-behind submission win over Holly Holm to capture the UFC bantamweight title in March 2016. But she went on to lose her title to Amanda Nunes in her next fight, then took a decision loss to Raquel Pennington, which prompted her to retire.
But, after years away from competition, the 34-year-old Tate explains that she still has the desire to compete and has mapped out a two-year plan.
“I’m so excited, I really am,” Tate said on her SiriusXM Fight Nation show ‘MMA Tonight.’ “I mean, there is a fire that has been lit. My heart is completely full of passion. I feel like I’m totally reinvigorated and when you know, you know. I just know. I’ve always been that person to lead with my heart and do what I feel like my calling is in life and it’s never steered me wrong. I’ve been a very – just a person that can change direction very quickly and not be afraid to do it. I dive right in if I feel like it’s right and that’s what I’m here to do. Like this sport, it’s been calling for me. I feel like it’s been calling me and now it’s time to answer.”
She continued, “I’m looking at this in a two-year perspective. “It’s very difficult to really say because you always think you’d like to have a plan for your life and it very rarely follows that. That’s why I’m just like, ‘Why do I plan anything?’ because it just never really works out that way, you know? But, I’ve got six fights on the contract, I’ve got two years that I know for sure I want to dedicate to this sport. But look, anything can happen off one fight. I’ll be honest, I really don’t know what exactly to expect.”
📽️ "I want to become a champion again." 🏆
Miesha Tate (@MieshaTate) tells @RyanMcKinnell that she's looking at her return to MMA as a 2-year plan and discusses what she wants to accomplish the second time around. 🚨 pic.twitter.com/aZJWTLefeu
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) March 25, 2021
Tate hopes a win over Reneau will springboard her toward another crack at the title. Dual champ Nunes (21-4 MMA, 14-1 UFC) hasn’t lost her 135-pound belt since submitting Tate in Round 1 at UFC 200, but “Cupcake” is confident that she has what it takes to dethrone the champion.
“That’s what’s so exciting to me is I get to get in there and mix it up with Marion and she’s the one that I had to keep those goals on, but I can tell you for the next two years, that’s my plan to be heavily involved in the sport. Obviously I want to become a champion again, and I think Amanda (Nunes) is just a phenomenal fighter. She’s the best. She’s the greatest of all time. But I really believe that finally, hopefully when that moment comes, which I know it will, I know if I put my nose to the grindstone – and that’s just to say if my girl Julianna (Pena) doesn’t get it done first.
“She might be able to go out there, and hopefully she gets that next opportunity, and I’d love for her to be able to attain that goal, too. But speaking right now, the champion is Amanda. I’d love to run that one back. I would love to fight her again because I know I have the style to beat her. I’m not at all gonna take anything away from her. She is just a scary woman, and she hits like a man, and I know that. I know everything. I’ve been in there with her, and I’ve seen what she’s done since then, but I know I have the style to beat her, and I know I have desire. I have plans, I have goals, and I know I’m somebody that, when push comes to shove, I make sh*t happen.”
