At UFC 208, Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie are set to square off for the UFC inaugural featherweight championship. The new featherweight division is the third women's division opened by the UFC and the first new division since the creation of the women's strawweight division in 2014. Although the title fight has not generated the buzz that the UFC brass was hoping for (largely due to the absence of Cris Cyborg), MMA fans are clamoring about Saturday's possible repercussions.
What this has to do with Miesha Tate
The recently retired miesha tate had quite the turbulent 2016.
After completing her longtime goal of capturing the UFC bantamweight title, she lost it to the reigning champion, Amanda Nunes, in her first title defense at UFC 200. Four months later, she lost via unanimous decision to Raquel Pennington at UFC 205, announcing her retirement in a post-fight interview. Interestly enough, however, Holly Holm is the fighter that Miesha Tate won the title from. Therefore, if Holm were to capture the 145-pound title on Saturday, it could set up a revenge match between the two.
Miesha Tate's response to the speculation
In an interview with MMA Junkie radio on SiriusXM Rush, Tate pushed the narrative that she is very happy in retirement and is enjoying the process of discovering who she is outside of the octagon.
When asked specifically about a possible rematch with Holly Holm, she had this to say: “At this point, it’s not even on the radar, so I can’t say that will probably happen, because I don’t think that it will... It’s got to be 110 percent, or not at all for me. So unless something makes me want to get back in there like a crazy person, I won’t be.” In the interview, Tate may have done little to fuel the speculation surrounding her possible return, but she did stress that "nothing's impossible."
The takeaway
Miesha Tate is one of the greatest MMA fighters in history, and while a possible rematch with Holly Holm may not seem as enticing to her as it does to the rest of the MMA world, Dana White is still trying to prove that the UFC is worth the $4 billion that WME bought it for.
A blockbuster rematch dripping with bad blood would go a long way in proving that. When you take into consideration all of the money that Dana would be willing to throw her way and the chance of becoming the first-ever female two-division champion, there's a real chance that we may see Miesha Tate put the gloves on one more time.
