Miesha Tate did not have a match to remember over the weekend. The 35-year-old UFC star took at Lauren Murphy on Saturday at UFC on ABC: Ortega vs. Rodríguez in her flyweight debut. Tate lost to Murphy via unanimous decision and then went to Instagram to send a message to her fans.
“Some women pay a lot of money for lips like these! All I had to do was get in a little fist fight!” Tate wrote. “Tonight wasn’t my night, congratulations to [Lauren Murphy] and we continue to learn the lessons of life! I had the most UH-mazing dinner at my favorite restaurant [Cheeseboat] and met Mama Cheeseboat herself. I’m still blessed beyond measure win lose or draw! Thank you to all those who continue to love and support me regardless, you know who you are.”
Videos by PopCulture.com
Tate is a former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion who has taken on the likes of Ronda Rousey, Amanda Nunes and Holly Holm in her career. She retired from mixed martial arts in 2016 but returned in July 2021 and defeated Marion Reneau. Tate has competed in two more matches since her return and lost both of them. Before the fight against Murphy, Tate said she wanted to take on Valentina Shevchenko, the current UFC Women’s Flyweight Champion. Tate also mentioned that she ran into Shevchenko while both were training in Las Vegas.
“She was nice,” Tate said, per MMA Fighting. “She said something along the lines like, ‘Now, it’s OK to be nice, maybe in the future on fight week, that will be different.’ Something [like that], I’m paraphrasing, but I said, “Yeah, absolutely. Nothing but love and respect outside of it, but fight time comes.’ It was comforting to me, because I think it meant she definitely sees me as a future opponent.
“I was very excited to hear her mention my name. Because if the champion is saying it, you know it’s going to have some value in it. Because she definitely has some pull in whether she goes up to 135 and fights, or stays right here at 125. I want to make that statement, and I want to say she has work to be done in this division.”
