UFC: New women’s division can’t lure Miesha Tate out of retirement
Former women’s bantamweight champion Meisha Tate (right) says she doesn’t intend to “unretire” despite the UFC’s new division. Image: UFC.com
Despite the UFC’s introduction of a fresh division for its female fighters, recently retired superstar and ex-bantamweight champion Meisha Tate is not clamoring for a comeback anytime soon.
This coming weekend, the world’s premiere MMA organization is introducing the women’s inaugural featherweight division, with a title fight between Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie.
READ: UFC tabs Holm vs De Randamie for inaugural women’s 145-lb belt
Still, with more opportunities available and the feeling of striking gold anew, “Cupcake” shared that she’s happy where she is, and is extremely contented with her retired status.
“At this point, it’s not even on the radar, so I can’t say that will probably happen, because I don’t think that it will,” Tate described the slim chance of returning to fighting in an interview with MMA Junkie, as relayed by MMAFighting.
After dropping the belt against current champion Amanda Nunes in UFC 200 and suffering another setback against rising contender Raquel Pennington at UFC 205 last November, the 30-year-old shocked the entire MMA community by announcing her intention to hang up her gloves for good.
READ: Former UFC champion Miesha Tate retires after loss at UFC 205
Tate added that even if Holm manages to win the title—a fighter she previously defeated by submission to win the gold—she remained adamant that the desire to fight no longer burns inside her.
“I’m really happy in the retirement, honestly. I’ve just been really enjoying myself and figuring out a little bit more about who I am beyond Miesha the fighter,” she disclosed. “It’s been a very interesting process, so I’m really enjoying that. I don’t have any plans to come back, or even any desire to.”
Prior to joining the UFC in 2013, Tate was among the most recognizable faces of women’s MMA for her remarkable fighting record in the now-defunct Strikeforce promotion.
After dropping her first two fights in the UFC, the Washington-native racked off four straight wins en route to a her upset victory against Holm in March, where she finally became champion.
Aside from her present lack of passion for the sport, Tate adds the tedious process of weight cutting as another reason she does not want to return to the octagon.
Although technically, the 145-pound division would mean less weight for her to cut, Tate insists that she is most likely “going for good.”
“I honestly would be more inclined to come back at 145 [pounds] even though I’d be really small for that division, but I’m just over the whole weight cutting thing. I don’t enjoy it and yeah, I used to be smaller and then because I got older I really filled out and got more muscle and all that stuff,” she said.
“I just don’t want to cut weight anymore. At all. I just want to be myself. Even if I’m only five pounds over, I don’t really care at 145.” Khristian Ibarrola
