Former UFC bantamweight champion, Miesha Tate has title plans but she says she won’t rush anything.
Tate won UFC gold back in 2016 at UFC 196 where she submitted Miesha Tate. She made a quick turnaround and lost her belt to Amanda Nunes at UFC 200 and once again made a quick turnaround and dropped a decision to Raquel Pennington at UFC 205 and she announced her retirement from the sport.
Now, five years later, Tate is set to end her retirement and face Marion Reneau at UFC Vegas 31.
“It’s like that old friend that you haven’t talked to in years, and you call him up and you haven’t skipped a beat,” Tate said at media day. “You know, that’s how I feel. I just feel at home with this. It’s very natural, and I’m the happiest to be here that I’ve been in a very long time.”
If Tate wins on Saturday, she knows people will try and rush her into a title shot and a rematch against Amanda Nunes. However, Tate says she isn’t rushing anything as she is only focused on Saturday night.
“I just want to start with Saturday,” Tate said. “I think it’s very important that I get that win and I don’t look too far ahead, you know? I am somebody who has short-term, mid-term, long-term goals, so there’s a way that I would like for it to go in a perfect world, but I know that I need to accomplish this.
“It’s imperative that I get this win for my trajectory, and, you know, I think it’s not unrealistic to say that if I have the performances that I’m planning on having, that it could be as little as three fights until I’m back into a title shot,” Tate said. “If I’m beating (people) and I’m continuing to move up and I’m climbing the ranks, you know, that I think is a fair assumption, but I just want to start with Saturday, and see how that goes.”
