Miesha Tate believes her UFC Long Island fight on July 16 against Lauren Murphy is a title eliminator.
Tate is set to make her flyweight debut in an intriguing matchup as the former bantamweight champ is a big name and would be a big fight for Valentina Shevchenko. However, before she can even think of that fight she will need to beat Murphy who is a tough out. Still, Tate is confident that if she wins, her next fight will be for UFC gold.
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“Yes, if not me then who else?” Tate told MMA Junkie. “If I go out and beat Lauren the way that I intend to – I don’t want to jinx myself so I’m not going to say it, but just watch on the 16th, and granted I do what I feel like I’m gonna do, I’m gonna go out there and I’m gonna win, she’s going to be saying my name a lot more often because if not me, who else?”
The best is yet to come! July 16th UFC Long Island LFG!!! pic.twitter.com/S76WbA89m7
— Miesha Tate (@MieshaTate) June 30, 2022
“Beating Lauren Murphy is a great feather in my cap,” Tate continued, “and, yeah, I’m a former world champion, and I’m not here forever. Let’s get this show on the road. “I want to fight the best. I want to fight Valentina. Lauren is a tough, gritty fighter, she’s ranked inside the top five, so it’ll be a great win for me. It’ll put me right in that spot, and Valentina’s done a beautiful job of clearing out everybody else, so the division is really wide open.”
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Tate is coming off a decision loss to Ketlen Vieira in a Fight Night main event after scoring a TKO win over Marion Reneau in her return from retirement.
Not only is Tate confident in her fight against Murphy but she is confident she would be the one to dethrone Shevchenko. She says she knew there were holes in Shevchenko’s game and Taila Santos only proved that last time out.
“I had that confidence before,” Tate said. “It doesn’t really change anything for me except now the rest of the world can see what I was thinking the whole time, which is kind of annoying, to be honest, because I really wanted to be the first one to do it, so I’m not thrilled, but yeah, it doesn’t change anything. I still feel exactly the same as I felt about Valentina, I knew that. I already knew it.”
