Tate: I may have to think about retirement
Miesha Tate: “I suppose I have to look at my options. And that’s not saying I will retire, but it’s something I’d have to think about.”
Losing something you had is a lot harder then never having had it at all. Miesha Tate thought she had been given a third shot at UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. Then the shot went to Holly Holm.
Tate found out about it when Rousey made the announcement on Good Morning America. Then Tate was offered Amanda Nunes.
Miesha Tate is not impressed. In fact, at age 29, she’s at a crossroads.
“I understand why they want to make the Rousey-Holly fight, but that doesn’t change the way they handled it,” said Tate to Brett Okamoto for ESPN. “I think it happened the way it did because they didn’t want to risk the information getting out, but in a way, that’s also insulting to me. I’ve been fighting for a long time, and I’ve proven my character. I’m a professional, and I can separate my disappointment from my actions.
“I don’t think the UFC did this to be malicious, but I also don’t think they gave me any consideration. This was another day in the office to them, but to me it’s like, ‘You just ruined my life,’ and I feel like they need to understand that a little.”
“Dana will say I’m one fight away, and then in his next interview, he’ll say I’m a couple fights away. I keep seeing different headlines come out, and I don’t know what to think.
“I fear that they want me to fight all the other top girls, and the connotation is that if they beat me, they get a title, but if I beat them, it’s ‘bring on the next one.’ Essentially, I feel like they have deemed me as a gatekeeper, and that’s fine for a while because I put myself there. I won and lost those fights. But there has to be some light at the end of that tunnel. If there’s not, what is my future in this sport?”
Tate was asked if that meant she was considering retirement. There was a long pause.
“It’s a very fine line,” she said. “All I can say is I don’t want it to go in that direction, but anything is a possibility. If it’s clear there’s no way for me to get a title shot as long as Ronda has the belt, then I don’t know. I suppose I have to look at my options. And that’s not saying I will retire, but it’s something I’d have to think about.”
“When push comes to shove, I will stand my ground. I’m a company woman. I went to Japan and fought on Fight Pass for relatively low exposure. I fought Sara McMann when nobody wanted to fight her. I make myself as available as possible. But there comes a point when I cannot sacrifice what I believe in my heart to be right.
“I’m not saying the UFC is trying to bully me, but if they really want something and they get it in their head, that’s all they want, and for me it’s not that simple. When I don’t feel right about something or if my heart’s not into it, I’m not going to do it.”
