Former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Miesha Tate shocked the MMA world when she announced her retirement after a loss to Raquel Pennington at UFC 205. The longtime star of the UFC and Strikeforce opened
"I just knew after like the first exchange that I just didn't want to do it anymore. So it was just kind of one of those things that just like stuck it out but I knew I had a lot more to give and I just didn't give it. I don't know. It's just one of those things. It's kind of odd, to be honest. But yeah, just lacking a little bit of the competitive edge to want to punch people in the face... I planned on winning that fight and going on another title run but at the end of that I just knew,” Tate said at a media event (courtesy of MMA Fighting.)
Tate also got into a verbal battle with UFC President Dana White backstage at UFC 205, she now tells her side of what went down.
"I was pissed. I didn't want to go to the hospital because I was fine. I knew I was fine. They didn't make me go to the hospital after I fought Amanda and you know she knocked my block off. If any time I should have gone to the hospital it probably should have been then but there wasn't really anything that happened in the fight with Raquel that I feel was hospital-deeming worthy. It just pissed me off because I was like, 'I have an after party to go to. I have my friends here. I'm in New York City, I do not want to go spend a couple hours in the ER when I've been doing this long enough to know I didn't need to go,” Tate said.
Besides competing next month at Submission Underground II, Tate may be popping up soon at UFC events as an analyst for Fox.
"It looks like something will come to fruition with FOX at some point so we’ll just see how that all unfolds. I think there’s going to be a lot of things that I have to look forward to but I’ve got to kind of sit down and talk to my management and see exactly what’s next,” said Tate.
Tate is a former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion and Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Champion, she is only one of two women to accomplish that task.
