Miesha Tate stunned the world on Saturday when she announced her retirement. The announcement came after Tate lost her 25th fight to Raquel Pennington and definitely was something a lot of her fans weren’t expecting. Tate is one of the few female MMA fighters and there’s a lot to know about Tate so here are 5 facts about Tate you might not know!

1. She Didn’t Start Off as an MMA Fighter

Many know Miesha Tate from her MMA career but she actually didn’t start off professionally. During high school, she competed on an amateur wrestling team and eventually would win the girl’s title. Once in college at Central Washington University, Tate joined the Mixed Martial Arts club and it was pretty much love at first sight. After that, she would come to appreciate Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

In 2006, she started off as an amateur MMA fighter. It was a pretty rough start for Tate because she was used to wrestling, not fighting but she eventually learned the sport quickly. Her record as an amateur was 5-1 before she turned professional a year later.

2. She Joined  UFC in 2013

After an exciting career in MMA, Tate decided to take her talents to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Her decision came after her Strikeforce fight with Ronda Rousey because as Dana White said, it was a “great promotional fight”. During her first title fight, she once again faced Rousey and would eventually be defeated. She would go on to win three UFC fights after.

In 2015, she would go up against Holly Holm who was coming off a massive victory over the undefeated Rousey. Tate would defeat her and become the UFC Bantamweight Champion. She would eventually lose her title to Amanda Nunes, however, earlier this year.

3. She Is Also A Model

In addition to being a dominant fighter, she also has a career in modeling. One of her most famous shoots was for the ESPN Body Issue in 2013. She bared it all for the cameras, but most of her other pictures on her website are her dressed in workout gear, dresses or wearing her championship belt. She also modeled for the Fitness Gurls magazine when they named her “the most beautiful woman in MMA.”

She also has sponsorships with Bad Boy Off Road and E-Z-GO which are both ATV companies. She has three other sponsorships with Qore24, a hand sanitizer company, Rev Labs which are supplements and Budweiser. She also has her own podcast entitled “The Miesha Tate Show.”

4. She’s a Seattle Seahawks Fan

Growing up in Washington, it’s pretty obvious why Miesha Tate is a Seattle Seahawks fan. In 2016, she had a pretty amazing day with the team when they gave her her own custom jersey.  The one special detail that the Seahawks did was put “Cupcake” on the back of Tate’s jersey because that’s her nickname!  After asking the team, she was finally able to raise the Seahawks’ 12th man flag during their preseason game against Dallas this year.

5. She’s One Of The Most Dominant Female Fighters Ever

When people think of MMA fighters, they usually think of Ronda Rousey but Miesha Tate deserves a lot of credit because of her dynamic career. She might not be as well-known as Rousey, but she is one of the greatest to ever participate in the sport. She is known for being extremely smart, dominant and extremely well-trained, making her such a rare fighter. Her retirement wasn’t something taken lightly either with a lot of celebrities and fans tweeting about it.

https://twitter.com/timyoungpi/status/798324045938688000

 

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