Miesha Tate Says 2007 Head Kick Loss Was Heartbreaking

In an interview with MMA Junkie, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate (18-5 MMA, 5-2 UFC) spoke about a head kick loss she suffered against Kaitlin Young in 2007 in the semifinals of Bodog’s HOOKnSHOOT women’s Grand Prix. She lost in the first round, hours after her first MMA win, a decision, against Jan Finney in the quarterfinals. Here are highlights:

On the 2007 loss: “I got my head kicked off. It was just one of those things. It broke my heart honestly, … but I felt like I could learn from it and I could get better. That’s what I decided to do.”

On coming back from a devastating loss: “Coming back from that was a learning experience,. Either you have the desire, the mentality to do that, or you don’t.”

On comparing her loss to Ronda Rousey’s: “I know it was a long time ago and it wasn’t as big a platform, … but it was just as devastating to me. It was as big as it got [for women’s MMA at the time] and it was as important as anything could ever be to someone.”