One of the big stories to emerge from Saturday night’s UFC 205 – a card that was particularly rich in big stories – was the retirement of female mixed martial arts trailblazer Miesha Tate.
Tate’s retirement followed a decision defeat to the streaking Raquel Pennington, who she coached on season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter. Prior to this decision loss, Tate surrendered the UFC women’s bantamweight title to Amanda Nunes, succumbing to a first-round rear-naked choke.
“I’m announcing my retirement, you guys,” Tate told UFC color commentator Joe Rogan in the moments after her loss to Pennington. “I love this sport forever, but it’s not my time anymore. It’s the future’s time.”
In the wake of Tate’s fight with Pennington, and her resulting retirement, UFC President Dana White claims to have asked Tate to go to the hospital to get checked out. When Tate refused, White allegedly said he’d give her a job with the UFC if she agreed to go to see a doctor.
In the opinion of former UFC heavyweight and current podcast star Brendan Schaub, however, Tate is far better suited for a job as a mixed martial arts analyst than she is for a desk job with the UFC. That said, Schaub believes Tate should hold out and field job offers from several outlets, rather than signing with FOX Sports right off the bat.
Schaub discussed this possibility on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience.
“If I’m Miesha Tate, I don’t sign with Fox right now,” he said. “Granted, she’s the best female analyst in the game to me, but I think she waits till that deal goes, and then fields all the offers. If she has the time to do it.”
“I’m saying don’t do that,” Schaub continued, when Rogan suggested Tate could also get an in-house job with the UFC. “I’m I’m her manager, I don’t do that. Let them play the negotiating game. She has so many talents, and nobody is coming along who speaks or looks like her.”
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