New UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Miesha “Cupcake” Tate is set to make her first title defence on July 9th at UFC 200: “Diaz vs McGregor 2” in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tate faces off against hard-hitting Brazilian star Amanda “Lioness” Nunes in one of two championship bouts on the card.
UFC officials announced the fight tonight following an initial report from MMAFighting.com. Tate captured the title this past month when she choked out Holly “The Preacher’s Daughter” Holm at UFC 196. On the same card, Nunes earned a hard-fought win against Valentina “Bullet” Shevchenko.
Tate (18-5-0) looked to be out of UFC title contention for good following a second loss to “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey in late 2013, but she fought her way back into the championship hunt with four straight victories including key wins over Sara McMann and Jessica “Evil” Eye. Contractual disagreements with the UFC left Tate’s future uncertain, but she was nevertheless placed into a title fight against new champ Holm in March. Holm appeared to be moments away from retaining her belt in the back-and-forth fight until Tate locked on a fifth-round rear-naked choke to secure a thrilling victory.
Nunes (12-4-0) posted stoppage victories in four of her first five UFC bouts after making her Octagon debut in August 2013. Along the way, she notched her biggest win to date by submitting McMann in the first round at UFC Fight Night 73. At UFC 196, Nunes was placed into a title eliminator bout against Shevchenko, who had made an instant impact by defeating Sarah Kaufman on short notice at UFC on FOX 17. Nunes dominated the first ten minutes of the fight, and she survived a strong final round from Shevchenko en route to a well-deserved Unanimous Decision win.
UFC 200: “Diaz vs McGregor 2” takes place on July 9th at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event is headlined by a welterweight rematch between Nate Diaz and “The Notorious” Conor McGregor, and also features a UFC Interim Featherweight Championship rematch between José “Scarface” Aldo and Frankie “The Answer” Edgar.
(Photo Credit: UFC)