After a shaky start, former Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Champion Miesha “Cupcake” Tate put forth another impressive comeback performance en route to a hard-fought victory tonight at UFC 183: “Silva vs Diaz” in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tate edged out Olympic silver medallist Sara McMann.
The opening round of tonight’s featured matchup did not go as planned for Tate, who was dropped early on and dominated on the ground. She came on strong in the late stages of round two and controlled the final five minutes on the mat to earn a competitive and entertaining Majority Decision victory.
Tate (16-5-0) found herself in survival mode early in round one after McMann (8-2-0) floored her with a pair of hard right hooks. Tate recovered and fought her way back to full guard, but McMann used punches and elbows to set up a move to side control. She tried to trap Tate in a top-side crucifix and landed more short elbows until Tate countered with an inverted triangle choke attempt before the bell.
McMann pressured Tate with punches and body kicks in round two, and she controlled the clinch battles with knees to the midsection. The round appeared to be well in hand for McMann until Tate stunned her with a flurry of power punches. McMann instinctively shot in for a takedown, but Tate countered with a tight guillotine choke. She used it to roll into top position and landed knees to the body until time expired.
The final round began with McMann throwing Tate to the mat, but Tate reversed position right away and she wound up on top in McMann’s half-guard. Much like McMann had done in round one, Tate used punches and elbows to set up a move to side control, and she spent the majority of the round hunting for submissions while peppering McMann with strikes. Tate locked on a kimura in the dying seconds, but McMann escaped before the bell.
After 15 minutes of back-and-forth action, the bout went to the scorecards. One judge had it even at 28-28, while the remaining two saw it 29-27 and 29-28, respectively, for Tate. The former Strikeforce champion extended her current winning streak to three and may have earned a third fight with UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey in the future.
Winner: Miesha Tate by Majority Decision (29-27, 29-28, 28-28) after three rounds. She improves to 16-5-0.
(Photo Credit: UFC)
What we learned from this is… Sara McMann is likely the strongest fighter in the division, and one of the hardest hitters, if not #1. Her boxing is sharp, great footwork. Her wrestling is as great as always. She’s also very fast.
BUT… her jiu jitsu is faulty (I think she just started training with Marcelo Garcia), and she can’t fight off her back. She made some grappling mistakes in all rounds, and seemed clueless going in the 3rd round, when she was on her back.
She definitely might have some bigger problems with fighters who fight well off their back, such as Alexis Davis and Marloes Coenen.
I had her winning the fight, as round 1 was all McMann, round 3 was all Tate, and round 2 could have gone either way, but she controlled almost 4 minutes of the round. A failed guillotine didn’t give the round to Tate, IMO, who seemed mentally and physically broken in the first minutes of the fight. That said, the outcome was far from a robbery, as the fight was very close.
I was more impressed with aspects of Sara McMann’s game in this fight than in her other fights. Her liabilities were there for all to see too. I felt Miesha Tate was well rounded and would win the fight though after Round 1, it wasn’t looking good for her. Ultimately though, neither Tate, nor McMann, nor Zingano are at Ronda Rousey’s level. Tate improves but as she nears Rousey’s level, Rousey improves more. Tate may be a champion again but it will likely be after Rousey retires.