Miesha Tate on Holly Holm Rematch: “It’d Be Great”

Former UFC and Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate says that a second fight with Holly Holm would be great as she acknowledged that she and Holm will fight again.

Miesha Tate responds to Holly Holm’s call for rematch: ‘Her and I will fight again’ #UFCVegas31 https://t.co/UobPzkWh62

— Danny Segura (@dannyseguratv) July 18, 2021

Tate made the statement during the UFC Vegas 31 post-event interviews last Saturday after she was asked by reporters about the possibility of fighting Holm a second time after the Preacher’s Daughter had called her out even before she stepped inside the Octagon for the first time since 2016.

The Rematch to Make?

Holm has an ax to grind against Tate. It can be recalled that Holly’s first title defense of the UFC women’s bantamweight title after she dethroned Ronda Rousey was against Miesha Tate at UFC 196. In that bout, Holm looked to be ahead on points when Tate caught her back and choked her to sleep in the final round of the fight.

That bout was Holm’s first career loss in MMA and started a downward trend where she lost four out of six bouts. But since losing to Amanda Nunes at UFC 239, Holm has won back-to-back fights against Raquel Pennington and Irene Aldana to return to no.2 in the UFC women’s bantamweight rankings.

With current champion Amanda Nunes set to defend the belt against Julianna Pena, there is a chance that Holm can get a rematch with Nunes after that bout. There were conversations that Holm could fight no. 1 Germaine de Randamie first in a title eliminator to determine the next bantamweight challenger. But with Miesha Tate back in the UFC, it looks like the rematch that Holm wants to happen first is the one with Cupcake.

Dominant TKO Win in Return

Tate produced a dominant TKO win in her return to the Octagon at UFC Vegas 31. Cupcake retired in 2016 after suffering a unanimous decision loss to Raquel Pennington at UFC 205. She retreated to Asia to join the ONE Championship as an executive, got married, and bore two children. But despite her happy family life and six-figure job, the itch to fight again caught up with her.

Citing that it was more of burnout rather than a decline that forced her to retire, Tate decided to make a comeback seeing her contemporaries in Holm, Nunes, Penington, Jessica Eye, Sara McMann, and Liz Carmouche still competing at a championship or high-level to this date. She informed the UFC of her decision and Dana White booked her an immediate return fight with Reneau.

Reneau might not be the opponent to gauge Tate’s level right now. The Belizean Bruiser was already set to retire after the fight, win or lose. But more than Reneau’s desire or lack of it, it was Tate’s sharpness and the absence of ring rust that made her Octagon return impressive. Based on what we saw last Saturday, it does appear that Miesha Tate is back for the long haul and the other contenders should beware.