Miesha Tate is off to flyweight.
Tate, the former bantamweight champion, hinted at possibly dropping to 125lbs after her friend Julianna Pena won the promotions 135lbs belt. Now, according to MMAFighting, Tate will indeed drop down in weight as she will fight Lauren Murphy at UFC 273 on April 9.
No contracts have been signed, just verbal agreements at this point.
Miesha Tate (19-8) is coming off a decision loss to Ketlen Vieira in the main event of a Fight Night card in November. Prior to that, she TKO’d Marion Reneau in her return to the sport after a five-year retirement. In her career, ‘Cupcake‘ holds notable wins over Holly Holm, Jessica Eye, and Sara McMann among others.
Lauren Murphy (15-5), meanwhile, is coming off a TKO loss to Valentina Shevchenko for the flyweight belt back at UFC 266. She’s currently ranked third at flyweight and if Tate wins, she would immediately be in title contention.
Another fight that was announced on Monday is Kevin Holland dropping down to welterweight to face Alex Oliveira at UFC 272 on March 5 in Las Vegas. Holland announced the fight himself on his OnlyFans.
Holland (21-7 and 1 NC) had a phenomenal 2020 as he went 5-0 but struggled in 2021 as he suffered a lopsided decision to Derek Brunson. He then had a quick turnaround and was dominated once against by Marvin Vettori before fighting Kyle Daukaus where he got submitted but it was overturned to a No Contest due to an accidental head clash. He will now finally make the drop to welterweight.
Oliveira (22-11-1 and 2 NC), on the other hand, is on a three-fight losing streak and could be fighting for his UFC job. He last fought back in October where he suffered a decision loss to Niko Price. Prior to that, he suffered back-to-back submission losses to Randy Brown and Shavkat Rakhmonov.
The final fight announced was a pivotal heavyweight bout between Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Marcin Tybura, which was reported by Marcel Dorff.
Rozenstruik (12-3) is just 2-3 in his last five and coming off a decision loss to Curtis Blaydes at UFC 266. Prior to that, he knocked out Augusto Sakai in the main event of a Fight Night card to get back in the win column after losing to Ciryl Gane. His other loss is a 20-second KO loss to Francis Ngannou. He’s currently ranked sixth at heavyweight.
Tybura (22-7) is ranked ninth at heavyweight and has his five-fight winning streak snapped as he dropped a decision to Alexander Volkov last time out. During his winning streak, he beat Walt Harris, Greg Hardy, and Ben Rothwell among others.
Who do you think will win these UFC fights?