Just a few more days and it will be UFC 200, where Meisha Tate will defend her bantamweight championship belt against Amanda Nunes. It was a surprise for everybody, even to her, that it is not going to be Ronda Rousey.
Tate can't deny that Rousey occupies a part of her mind. "The Rowdy One" owns her two submission victories. However, Rousey has not stepped back into the octagon since being knocked out cold by Holly Holm last November, and UFC executives had another name in mind for the fight, who is Nunes, MMA Junkie reported. .
Tate said, "They thought that Amanda was the next best girl in line. They were like, 'Look, you just beat Holly. You finished her.'
She added, "It was kind of like, 'Let's open up the division – we'd like you to fight Amanda,' I said, 'Cool.' Amanda's someone I've had my eye on for a while, and I know she's had her eye on me. Now's the time we get to get in there and do what we do."
The champion is greatly focused on this fight and doesn't want any distractions. She is so focused that she even turned down other activities that might generate additional income for her. Her manager, Josh Jones, said that Tate did not accept two autograph-signing appearances worth almost US$40,000 combined. She also skipped an opportunity to be at the NHL's end-of-the season awards televised by NBC because of training, USA Today stated.
Nevertheless, Tate agreed to be the grand marshal at NASCAR's Firekeepers Casino 400 last June 12 in Michigan, but she did not stay long to finish the race. She went back immediately to Las Vegas to continue her training.
UFC 200 will happen on June 9 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tate's current standing is 18-5 MMA, 5-2 UFC, while Nunes stands at 11-4 MMA, 4-1 UFC.
