Miesha Tate: MMA’s Unsung Hero

UFC 205 saw the end of the MMA career for one of the most decorated women’s MMA fighters in history, Miesha Tate. Following a unanimous decision loss to her former team member on The Ultimate Fighter, Raquel Pennington, Tate announced her retirement from MMA. Granted, at 30 years old, you cannot exactly rule out that Tate is retiring for good. Sometimes, retirement in MMA means about as much as an apology from a crooked politician. Fighters have hinted at retirement before only to come back after a sabbatical or a certain amount of time off. Still, that’s Tate’s prerogative. Regardless, Tate deserves credit for forging women’s MMA into what it is today, and making it a viable career option for female credit.

Miesha Tate may never have reached the level of superstardom that Ronda Rousey or even Gina Carano were able to, but Tate certainly became one of the best female mixed martial arts fighters on the planet. She first made her MMA debut in November 2007, and since that time, has put the time and work in unlike any other fighter. People forget, but after Gina Carano basically left MMA for Hollywood, interest in women’s MMA had declined greatly before Ronda Rousey showed up and gave it a huge shot in the arm. People just weren’t interested in watching Cris “Cyborg” Justino’s one-sided beatdowns while she was jacked up on steroids. During that time, Tate continued to bust her rear and move up the ranks of Strikeforce’s less publicized bantamweight division. In August 2010, she was victorious in a one-night tournament in order to earn a shot at the bantamweight title. In her next outing, she pulled off an impressive upset submission, beating Marloes Coenen to capture the women’s bantamweight title. Enter: Ronda Rousey.

Rousey was fast on her way to becoming an MMA phenom. She was nowhere close to becoming a household name, but here was an Olympic medalist who was quickly making a name for herself with the way she would quickly annihilate her opponents in the first round via armbar. Not to mention, Rousey had a brash and outspoken attitude and personality that you didn’t see from a lot of female fighters at the time. After UFC’s then-parent company, ZUFFA, had purchased Strikeforce, the brass knew they had a superstar on their hands, and a title fight was booked between Rousey and Miesha Tate. It was an exciting contest, and Miesha Tate actually managed to survive an early armbar onslaught from Rousey before ultimately suffering a submission defeat. What people may not know about this fight, is that this was the fight that convinced UFC President Dana White to bring women’s MMA into the UFC. It wasn’t long before that White said women’s MMA would never happen in the UFC. So think about that. There was a time where women’s MMA was a taboo subject, let alone a potential possibility to even happen in the UFC. It was this fight that ultimately changed Dana White’s mind to bring women’s MMA into the UFC, changing the course and direction of the sport forever.

That’s freaking huge. Yes, Ronda Rousey was the unbeatable monster at the time. But you don’t get Ronda Rousey’s epic run without her fights and rivalry with Miesha Tate. You can’t tell Rousey’s story without Miesha Tate. Before a few years ago, the best women could hope if they wanted a career in MMA fighting was maybe Strikeforce or maybe Bellator MMA, who lost interest in women’s MMA fairly quickly. Women not only had to battle against perceptions that they weren’t competent or capable fighters, but also the fact that they couldn’t even make a name for themselves and fight on the biggest stage for MMA in the world. Yes, Ronda Rousey definitely spearheaded all that. But if Miesha Tate wasn’t there either, those changes do not happen. If Rousey is a pioneer and trailblazer for women’s MMA, then so is Miesha Tate.

With the integration of women’s MMA into the UFC, so did Tate come in as one of the top contenders. She managed to end her run in Strikeforce before the company folded on a strong note, with an impressive come from behind submission win over another longtime women’s MMA veteran in Julie Kedzie. For her UFC debut, Tate was matched up against Cat Zingao. This fight was significant because not only would the winner receive the honor of fighting Ronda Rousey for the UFC women’s bantamweight title, but the winner would also get to be one of the first female coaches for The Ultimate Fighter. This was also huge and groundbreaking. Not only would women get to fight in the UFC and compete for UFC gold, they would get the opportunity to be the face of one of the UFC’s biggest promotional vehicles in the long-running Ultimate Fighter reality show. However, for Tate, things did not go as planned. While she managed to dominate the early rounds, Tate was put away by the resilient and mega-tough Zingano in the third round, who pulled off a huge upset at the time.

However, despite the loss, Tate still technically walked away the winner. Zingano suffered a debilitating knee injury, and she would not be able to fulfill her Ultimate Fighter or title fight commitments against Rousey in 2013. As a result, the UFC picked the next-best choice: Miesha “Cupcake” Tate. Interestingly enough, it was through The Ultimate Fighter that Miesha became a bigger fan favorite. Many saw Tate as the more professional fighter, athlete and coach on the show, while Rousey came off as very abrasive and thin-skinned. So much so, that when Tate and Rousey had their epic rematch at UFC 168 in December 2013, it was Tate and not Rousey who was seen as the “good guy” and fan favorite. The fans certainly rallied behind Tate in that fight, hoping to see a potential upset, but it was not to be. While Tate was able to survive into the third round, something that no other opponent had ever done against Rousey, she still ultimately suffered her second armbar submission defeat to Rousey. Not only that, she lost her bid for the UFC title. Now 0-2 in the UFC, Tate was completely back at square one.

Tate was undeterred. She went on a tear after the Rousey loss, winning four straight fights against former title contender Liz Carmouche, Rin Nakai, Olympic silver medalist and former title contender Sara McMann, and Jessica Eye. In fact, Dana White declared the winner of Tate vs. Eye to be the next contender for Rousey’s title. Tate won the fight, and then White promptly declared at the post-fight press conference that would be the fight, and Tate would get the next shot. It was a surprising move and statement to say the least. The reason it was puzzling is because whenever someone got finished by another fighter twice, especially in title fights, it seemed less than likely that the fight would happen again a third time. It was less surprising when the UFC ultimately announced the next title fight would instead be Ronda Rousey vs. the undefeated former boxing champion Holly Holm. Holm was the fresh face and opponent, who came in with a lot of hype as a woman who could later be matched up against Ronda Rousey. While the fight would be big business, the announcement was devastating to Tate, who had no idea the UFC had opted to change course without telling her.

In many ways, this match-up turned out to be Tate’s meal ticket and blessing in surprise. Why is that? At UFC 193, Holm pulled off the unthinkable. She toppled the monster champion that was Ronda Rousey and won her title. And who was next in line but none other than Miesha Tate? The UFC brass were eager to book an immediate rematch between Rousey and Holm. The problem? Rousey had just suffered an unthinkable, devastating loss that no one saw coming, especially her. This was one of the biggest upset in combat sports in history. Rousey basically took an extended leave of absence and was practically radio silent. Meanwhile, Holly Holm was not exactly keen on waiting over a year or more just to fight Rousey in a rematch. As the old saying goes, luck is when preparation meets opportunity, and that’s pretty much what happened in Miesha Tate vs. Holly Holm at UFC 196. Holly Holm was the woman who beat the unbeatable. Surely, she wouldn’t fall to Miesha Tate, a good fighter no doubt, but she failed against Ronda Rousey twice. Right? Wrong. MMA Math is not absolute. Styles make fights, and Tate had a very good style that matched up very well against Holly Holm. While Holm fought a very technical fight and managed to stay out of danger and outpoint Tate for most of the fight, Tate managed to relentlessly go in for the takedown, managing to secure a choke on Holm to win the fight and a huge come from behind victory. Just as when Holm defeated Rousey, the unthinkable happened. Tate just became UFC champion.

Outside of the Octagon, many fighters, even the male ones, could learn from Tate’s example. Tate understood how to market and brand herself a lot more than over half the fighters on her roster. She has over two million likes on her Facebook page, not to mention millions of followers across Twitter and Instagram. Eschewing the more typical nickname of “Takedown,” Tate opted to brand herself as Miesha “Cupcake” Tate. Why is that? Even though she was a badass and tough MMA fighter, Tate wasn’t afraid to look and present herself in a more feminine light. She loves cupcakes and also baking, so Cupcake Tate is the moniker she fought under and it stuck.

With title win, even though it was short-lived, plus being a part of the main event at UFC 200, win or loss, Tate has forged an indelible legacy in this sport that no one can take away from her. For that, she will undoubtedly be a UFC Hall of Famer later down the line. Thank you for everything, Miesha Tate.

Jeffrey Harris is 411mania’s resident Jack of All Trades and has covered MMA for the site since 2008. You can shoot him an e-mail at [email protected] or hit him up on Facebook. He also co-hosts the 411 Ground & Pound Radio podcast along with Robert Winfree. You can listen to the latest episode of the podcast in the player below.