White: Tate retirement unexpected, but makes sense

Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate retired at age 30 following a unanimous decision loss to Raquel Pennington at UFC 205 in Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.

It’s not my time anymore, she said to commentator Joe Rogan. It’s the future’s time.

UFC president Dana White discussed it at the UFC 205 post-fight press conference.

“I didn’t see the Miesha Tate thing coming,” said White, as transcribed by Shaun Al-Shatti for MMA Fighting. “But you know, it makes sense.”

“Miesha’s been so tough and durable, and not a tough, durable woman, but a tough, durable athlete. She’s been in this for so long, and I could just tell when I talked to her tonight.”

Tate did not appear at the post-fight press conference to detail her reasoning, as she was transported to the hospital, where she checked out OK.

“Her and I had a little bit of a thing tonight,” said White. “She was refusing to go to the hospital. And I’m like, ‘you’re going to the hospital.’ She’s like, ‘f*** you, I don’t work for you anymore.’

“So, yeah. I was like, that’s a good point, but you need to go to the hospital. … Then I had to start begging, ‘if you go to the hospital tonight, I’ll get you another job doing something else, and I could be your boss again.’ So, she went, yeah. She has to go.”

“She’s upset and she’s very emotional. But I care about Miesha a lot, and I think she’s going to do just fine in her life after fighting.”