Miesha Tate will return on July 17 against Marion Reneau ending her retirement. But, after her last fight, Tate says she was in a dark place.
Tate returned at UFC 205 and lost a decision to Raquel Pennington after losing to Amanda Nunes to lose her belt. After her loss, Tate says she struggled mentally and emotionally. It was a tough time for “Cupcake” but after time away, she is doing much better.
"I was struggling mentally and emotionally and I was in a very dark place and I needed to take time away. I needed to take time away from everything."@MieshaTate opened up about her decision to walk away from the sport in 2016. (via @arielhelwani) pic.twitter.com/IIaNdvWGEe
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) March 31, 2021
“You have to give everything to this sport,” Tate said to ESPN. “You have to give as much as you can and when you have something taking away from it, something that’s mentally and emotionally exhausting you. There comes a point where you just have nothing left and that’s where I found myself with Raquel [Pennington].
“I just wasn’t able to engage in that fight the way that I wanted to. That was very depressing, it was really depressing. I was struggling mentally and emotionally, and I was in a very dark place. I needed to take time away. I needed to take time away from everything, I needed to separate myself from all the things that were taking away from myself, and answer questions and get out of that dark space. So I did that.”
After her retirement, Miesha Tate took a job with ONE Championship and headed to Singapore. However, she recently ended that to make her return to fighting.
The goal for Tate is to go on a run and get a rematch with Nunes for the title. Although she hasn’t fought since 2016, she still is only 34-years-old and still has some good years ahead of her in fighting.
Regardless, the good news for Tate is she is doing much better mentally and emotionally since her last fight. She started a family and is now eager to compete again after turning a corner in her life.
