In her UFC debut, Cat Zingano was met with a stiff challenge in facing former Strikeforce Bantamweight champion Miesha Tate. After 2 rounds of back and forth action, Zingano took over in the third to take a TKO victory. The win earned her a spot on The Ultimate Fighter 18 coaching against champion Ronda Rousey.
Unfortunately for Zingano, a knee injury forced her out of the reality show and her title shot. Tate took her spot on the reality show and will face Rousey for the belt at UFC 168. Following her surgery, Cat stated on Twitter that she’s looking forward to facing the winner of the December 28 fight:
As her doctor explained in the video, Zingano is still in the recovery process. If all goes well she should be able to return to full training by March. Assuming Cat started her training camp immediately after, that would mean the next women’s title fight wouldn’t happen until very late Spring or early Summer. It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for a champ to take that long between fights, but it will depend on how active Rousey or Tate decide they want to be.