Miesha Tate has put herself in a great spot to become the next contender at women’s bantamweight. Since losing to current champion Ronda Rousey in 2013, Tate has gone 4-0 with victories against Top 10 opponents like Jessica Eye, Sara McMann and Liz Carmouche.
The No. 1 ranked Tate is now set to fight the No. 4 ranked Amanda Nunes at the much anticipated UFC 194 event in December. Although many would assume that a win for either fighter would come with a guaranteed title shot, UFC President Dana White put a hold to that idea.
“I know it seems like Miesha got a bad break in this thing, but realistically when you look at this, Miesha’s lost to [Ronda] twice. Miesha’s going to have to knock a couple more people off to get to Ronda,” White told UFC Tonight.
[Full UFC Tonight Interview with Dana White – Geo Restrictions Apply]
Dana White defended the UFC’s decision to put the No. 8 ranked Holly Holm against Rousey without having fought a Top 10 opponent.
“Holly Holm has won belts in boxing and is 9-0 in MMA. When we brought her in, it was to fight Ronda Rousey,” White said.
Dana also named Amanda Nunes and Julianna Pena as possible future title challengers.
Nunes would likely get the next shot at Rousey with a win over Tate at UFC 194. She is the only fighter in the division that holds a win over a Top 10 opponent while not having lost to the current champion.
(The following graphic shows the current Top 10 ranked fighters with their record against Top 10 ranked competition)
Pena was the first female winner of The Ultimate Fighter and is currently ranked at No. 12 in the division. Pena has only fought twice in the UFC since debuting in 2013, and won both by TKO in the first round.
“There’s still a lot of talent in that division. Now it’s just one at a time letting them get at Ronda,” White says.
Tate was shocked and “extremely disappointed” when she heard that her promised title shot against Rousey was instead given to Holm. She later told TMZ that, “The reason they are telling us it isn’t happening is because Rousey vs. Holm sells more.”
Tate has yet to respond to White’s recent comments made on UFC Tonight.
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