Miesha Tate is coming out of retirement and her goal is to land a rematch with UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes.
Tate announced on Wednesday that she is ending her nearly-five year retirement from MMA and is returning to the Octagon this summer when she takes on Marion Reneau. Following a 2016 loss to Raquel Pennington at UFC 205, Tate decided to hang up her gloves and start a family. She also worked for ONE Championship during that time. However, once COVID-19 hit, Tate moved her family back to Las Vegas. It appears as though being around the fight game in Vegas got her fighting spirit back and now she’s coming back.
Speaking to the “MMA on SiriusXM” show, Tate explained why she’s coming back. “Cupcake” said that the reason she is returning to the Octagon is that she wants to fight Nunes again. The two met in the main event of UFC 200 in July 2016, with Nunes finishing Tate via first-round stoppage. Five years later and Tate wants to try her luck again. She just signed a six-fight contract with the UFC and the ultimate goal is the Nunes rematch.
“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,” Tate said (h/t MMAjunkie.com).
“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.”
Do you want to see the rematch between Miesha Tate and Amanda Nunes?