Miesha Tate Rallies To Defeat Liz Carmouche At UFC On FOX 11Former Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Champion Miesha “Cupcake” Tate overcame a slow start in round one and earned her first Octagon win tonight at UFC on FOX 11: “Werdum vs Browne” in Orlando, Florida. Tate defeated former U.S. Marine Liz “Girl-Rilla” Carmouche in the co-feature.

The opening round of tonight’s featured matchup belonged to Carmouche and she kept Tate on the defensive with takedowns and ground control. Tate stole round two with submission attempts and she dominated the final five minutes of the fight en route to a hard-fought Unanimous Decision win.

 

Tate (14-5-0) showcased her improved striking skills with quick jabs early in the opening round, but Carmouche (9-5-0) closed the distance and clinched against the fence. She got Tate down, but Tate countered with elbows. The fighters stood and Tate landed more reverse elbow strikes. However, she could not escape from Carmouche’s grasp and Carmouche landed a series of knees to the thigh. She took Tate down two more times and fought off a kimura attempt late in the round.

Carmouche initiated another clinch early in round two and she countered knees and punches from Tate with a takedown. Tate threw elbows on the ground and worked her way back to her feet. Carmouche took her down once more, but Tate was prepared and she locked on a guillotine choke. Carmouche stood and Tate pulled her back down into half-guard. Carmouche escaped from the choke and she took Tate’s back shortly before the end of the close round.

With the fight still very much up for grabs, Tate was aggressive with punches in round three and she backed Carmouche up. Tate took Carmouche down into side control and she looked to set up a variety of chokes from the top. Carmouche gave up her back and Tate secured a rear-naked choke. Carmouche defended, but Tate continued to try to finish the fight. She trapped Carmouche in another rear-naked choke and Carmouche narrowly escaped. The fight ended with Tate standing over Carmouche and she dropped punches until the final bell.

Tate’s strong third round was enough to propel her to victory and all three judges scored the competitive fight 29-28 in her favour. The much-needed win got Tate back on track after back-to-back losses to “Alpha” Cat Zingano and UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey.

Winner: Miesha Tate by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) after three rounds. She improves to 14-5-0.

 

 

(Photo Credit: UFC)

  1. Honestly, even round 1 was close: Carmouche was just laying and praying.
    She got two take downs in round 2, but didn’t do anything from the top.
    Round 3 was all Tate, who didn’t have one of her best performances.

    For the record, I saw Miesha’s hand shaking. I think she was very nervous for this fight. I don’t want to say that, as she always has some emotional excuses for her losses, and emotional control is part of the fighting process. But, this time, I think it affected her performance.