Miesha Tate Coming Out Of Retirement, Returns To UFC This Summer
It appears as if the UFC’s women’s bantamweight division may have another contender on it’s hands.
Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate is returning to the UFC’s octagon, according to ESPN.
Tate, 34, is set to face Marion Reneau at an unnamed UFC event, which is expected to be a UFC Fight Night, on July 17.
The former UFC and Strikeforce champion announced her retirement in 2016 following dropping a unanimous decision to Raquel Pennington at UFC 205. Tate would become an ambassador and executive for the Asia-based ONE Championship promotion following her retirement from active competition.
Reneau, 43, has announced that the bout will interestingly enough, be her retirement fight. She last fought at UFC Vegas 22, where she was on the wrong end of a unanimous decision against rising contender Macy Chiasson.
Both women reached out to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto to comment on the summer showdown.
“My heart is full of passion, the fire has been lit!” Tate told Okamoto, via text message. “The sport has been calling for me, it’s time I answer.”
“I knew that my last fight would be when I was 43 or 44 years old,” Reneau said. “Granted, I feel amazing. I feel the best I’ve ever felt. But there just comes a time when I feel it’s time to move on and in my mind, I always knew I would finish out my contract and that was going to be it. I can’t think of a better situation, just because I like to say I grew up watching Miesha. She was one of my first idols when I started fighting. I used to dream about fighting her, and now it’s coming to pass in what happens to be my last hoorah.”
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