Miesha Tate Announces Retirement After UFC 205 Loss

Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate came into her match-up with streaking contender Raquel Pennington at tonight’s (Sat., November 12, 2016) UFC 205 from Madison Square Garden in New York City looking to rebound from a submission loss to Amanda Nunes in her first title defense at July 9’s UFC 200.

It wan’t quite meant to be, however, as Tate’s The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) team member used a heavy volume of stiff jabs and phenomenal takedown defense to thoroughly dominate Tate and send her to a second consecutive loss.

While it was Pennington’s finest hour in the Octagon, ‘Cupcake’ surprised the MMA world when she retired from the sport in her interview with Joe Rogan, citing a long grind of 10 years that has seen her absorb a ton of damage.

Watch her announcement right here:

Tate retires from MMA with an impressive record of 18-7, having made a name for herself as one of the most recognizable faces of the currently booming women’s side of fighting. She won the UFC title from former champion Holly Holm with a shocking come-from-behind submission at March’s UFC 196, and obviously her long-held feud with legendary former women’s champion Ronda Rousey was the rivalry that thrust women’s MMA into the UFC spotlight in a big way back in 2013.

She’ll undoubtedly go down as one of the most vital pioneers of women’s MMA.