Miesha Tate: There Is No Way I’m Looking Past Amanda
During a media call on Wednesday, UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Miesha Tate spoke about what she would like to happen after her fight with Amanda Nunes at UFC 200. According to Tate, she wants time off and is eyeing a return in November or December.
“I know I want to take a little time to enjoy myself,” Tate said. “I went straight from my camp with Holly, straight into Bryan [Caraway]’s camp against Aljamain Sterling, and then straight into this camp, which has been awesome to keep that great momentum going. I’m really happy about that, but, you know, my birthday is in August, and I would like just to take a little bit of time. I think a November or December return would be reasonable.”
It would make sense for Tate to fight in November because the promotion debuts at Madison Square Garden in that month. Tate’s arch rival and former UFC champion Ronda Rousey is also rumored to fight around that time so a potential third fight between the two fighters could be made. But Tate made it clear that she is not looking past Nunes.
“Let me just stop you right there, because there is no way I’m looking past this fight with Amanda,” she said. “I just can’t afford to do it. I’ve been seeing that a lot of people are just losing titles quickly and focusing on things they don’t need to be. And I refuse to make that mistake. I didn’t get here by overlooking opponents.
“I’ll be taking that as it comes,” she said. “I’ll be able to give that a little more thought after this fight on July 9, but none of that is even worth talking about if I don’t win this fight, so I know how important this is, and that has all my focus. And whatever may come after that, it’s just very important that I win this fight so I can even begin to even thinking about discussing other fights. I just have to focus on that date, July 9, and after that then I’ll probably be able to answer your questions a little bit better.”
UFC 200 takes place at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 9, 2016.
