EXCLUSIVE: Miesha Tate Gives an Insight into the ONE Championship World

• ES ) Hello everyone, I hope you all are doing well, EssentiallySports is privileged to be joined by Women’s MMA royalty, a former Strike Force bantamweight champion, former UFC champion and current ONE Championship Vice-President, Miesha Tate. Welcome to the show Miesha. How are you?

• Miesha Tate) I am doing great, thanks for having me. How are you?

• ES) I am good, just with the lockdown, and since lockdown how it has been since the past few months in Singapore with respect to the Coronavirus, the lockdown, and anything that you have experienced differently on a personal level with the pandemic?

• Miesha Tate) So, Singapore has been phenomenal at managing the Coronavirus, I feel really safe here. But, I will say, not being able to travel outside of Singapore has been really hard. As an American, who is used to a lot of space and I just imagine myself like if I was in US right now which is a crazy place to be, but if I was, I would probably be like road tripping somewhere in a RV or camping. Just you know, getting out in all the space we have. In this Island, here has become really small and I feel a little bit claustrophobic. You know, I mean all these great places to travel around in Asia are just so close but we are not allowed to leave, so that has probably been.. been challenging, especially for me with my job, like ever from going to fight events to being with ONE Championship, I mean I was traveling for every event, and then some. So it has been a really a forced slowdown which has been great in some ways and really overwhelming in the other way, so I am just taking the good with the bad day by day.

• ES) The move to another country was a major decision, and you did it with your entire family. Was that a big step? Was there a lot of thought involved in it or it’s like, ‘Let’s Go, Let’s explore’?

• Miesha Tate) You know it was more of a ‘Let’s go, Let’s explore’. Like once we made the decision then I mean then there was a lot to it obviously, to get up and move your family across the world is no easy feat but it just felt like the right thing to do and it didn’t take a lot of thought from me and I am just, I have always been that way since I started fighting. I mean, I just fought in a two-week notice with my first fight with never in my wildest dreams ever thinking about fighting before. You know it’s not like I grew up with something to prove, with a chip on my shoulder. So, I never, I have never been in a fight before. It was like, if it is right in the moment, I am one of those people that just is willing to take advantage of even the strangest opportunities or the coolest ones or you know, the risky ones, moving across the world, yeah, that’s just part of my personality. I like to get up and go and do things.

ES) You recently had a new addition to your family, you became a mother for the second time and can you take us through how the joyous experience was and how it has changed you over the last few weeks?

• Miesha Tate) It been… It’s been hard, I won’t lie. So, you know our little one is just seven weeks old right now, and it been an adjustment. We have a two-year-old and it’s hard you know sometimes you are not sleeping at night then you know your daughter, she still doesn’t care in the morning. Like our 2-year-old she doesn’t care in the morning, she doesn’t care how much we slept coz she had a great night sleep. So (Laughs) you know we have to battle all that, trying to keep our 2-year-old busy. Like she has no children to socialize with. That was crazy, but it’s also been incredible and our son is starting to like smile back, you know getting past that newborn phase and he is just wonderful and we had a crazy birth experience like we ended up, I don’t know if you know, we ended up having the baby at home on accident. So that was intense but I guess I am not good at planning births because my first one, I wanted to have it home and it ended up having transferred to the hospital, after like three days of labor and this one came just in three hours and we planned to have it in the hospital but we had it at home (Laughs). So yeah, it was crazy. Umm. I think I over answered your question, but it’s been, it’s been quite an exciting journey.

ES) Your tie with ONE too had been an exciting journey and when the COVID-19 came along all sports stopped and obviously the economic impact has its own, not only sports but the entire organizations, unfortunately, ONE too was hit and regret that they had to part ways the certain percentage of their workforce. Now, how has that been in terms of getting into shape and getting in the trackback?

• Miesha Tate-) It has definitely put, you know different work load and you know it’s kinda hard to consolidate the workloads. So there’s a lot of people who really have had to step up to the play and do, you know, more than maybe a little bit more than they are used to, but at the same time, we have also kinda have, you know a forced slowdown in the company where, you know it was a lot of work trying to get putting on that live event, so you know we are back now to events, obviously they are closed but nobody is there in attendance because we want to to be as safe as possible but I mean everyone who had to really step up to the play has done that, so I give a big kudos to ONE Championship and there’s a lot of people that are working around the clock to make sure we can provide good live content again even though you know it’s kind of new normal right, things are just different but we are moving forward.

• ES) You know moving forward, you all have resumed but looking back at how the UFC resumed a few months back and their success, do you think ONE instead of erring on the side of caution, could have jumped the gun and have gone a bit earlier?

• Miesha Tate-) It’s not our style. You know what, ONE Championship is all about ethics and peoples’ safety and family first, so we just, we really didn’t want to rush it. We probably could have tried to push something in a little bit sooner or a little bit faster, but to be honest, I feel like this was like slow and steady was the key for us you know health and safety is important and you know the UFC has done a great job as well. Like they are doing their thing and we are happy for them and we are doing our thing over here. It’s been great for us so again we are throwing live events, too a little bit longer but you know we really want to be safe and there’s also some other challenges we had too, with borders really being closed. Like, here in Singapore, the borders are completely shut so I mean you can’t just throw on events and bring fighters. So we had a lot of challenges with that, so I am really proud of the team and how hard everybody has worked to get those shows going again.

• ES) ONE has resumed in earnest in Thailand with the ‘No Surrender’ events, and there are a lot of events with the NO Surrender and various numbers planned for the entire month. How many more events does ONE have in the pipeline for the next few months?

• Miesha Tate) Actually quite a bit, we definitely want to make up with the lost time, we wanna move forward and get used to throwing events and expansion, So we certainly have our work kind out for us but you know free bumps are not what we endorse. We are not facing any closed-off walls, we are just facing different challenges we kinda have to negotiate and workaround but we are doing just that.

• ES) The challenges would be that the athletes need to compete behind closed doors without an audience. So would you say that that impacts the performance, or it’s like just the audience is only there for the fights, they are just 3-4 times a year?

• Miesha Tate) Let me say this, it definitely changes the atmosphere. You can hear your coaches and cornerman and or officials and any, I mean sometimes you can hear a pin-drop if everybody is silent, which is so weird if you haven’t experienced that before. I have been in those situations before but a lot of fighters haven’t and it will be an adjustment and again fighting is very individual you know. So each fighter are gonna have a totally different response to that not having crowd. Some people really get the energy from the crowd and they enjoy that kind of and other people are just focussed and determination so you know I think this is one of the situations that’s very dependent on how the fighter chooses to cope with not having an audience.

• ES) Depends on the individuality is what you are saying and also how long do you think that the athletes would have to compete behind closed doors. When is the possibility of having a certain percentage of audience in the arena? Has that ever crossed your mind?

• Miesha Tate) You know what, I don’t think we are planning on having any kind of audience. I mean for the seeable future right, It’s kind of like, this is the new norm and we don’t know how long it is going to take for vaccines to come out, that’s effective, you will need health and safety so that’s our top priority. Until that becomes to a better standard where everyone is comfortable being in groups, gatherings and concerts are going again and then we will probably, we will kind of have those kind of events. I can’t wait for that personally but I don’t think that’s gonna happen in the rest of 2020. So I mean I think we just kinda hope for the best in 2021 that we come up with some kind of cured measure or something that ensures people’s safety or not catching the virus right, like a good vaccine and we hope for the best in 2020. I hate to wish your life away, but I kinda just want, excuse me. I think I just keep saying 2020. Hope the best for 2021 and I can’t wait for next year.

• ES) You recently posted on Instagram where you are boxing 2020 out of the picture

• Miesha Tate) Exactly,

• ES) That’s the sentiment many people would share around in the world but 2020 will be a good year for ONE considering that Dominance MMA is bringing a mass influx of talent and given Ali Abdelaziz’s resume, are you excited for the type of names that would be joining ONE Championship soon?

• Miesha Tate) Without a doubt. You know Ali is a friend of mine, somebody I have trained with, he trains and works out a lot at EXTREME COTOURE. He is somebody I am very familiar with and he is a very hard-working manager and he has a ton of talents and a ton of prospect, that are really kinda yet to be unwrapped for the world to see. So I think we are gonna get to see special talents working with Ali and I am excited for what the future holds for them.

• ES) Ali has been really silent about who must be joining ONE, we are wondering can you shed some light on who might be coming abroad?

• Miesha Tate) You know I don’t work with Athlete Development Department directly. So it seems that would be the department, that I would have my hands on with but I am actually not it’s kind of a little bit of conflict of interests and so I mostly work with the production. So, I, unfortunately, don’t have a lot of insight but you know I think Ali has dropped some good names himself, even Khabib’s younger brother, which sounds really exciting to me. Again, I don’t know if that is something which will happen or whatnot, I don’t have any special insight to that but just speaking as a fan of this sport. I would love to see that happen. I know Werdum has finished his contract with the UFC. So, I mean who knows like. I don’t know but there’s definitely something exciting prospect to be looking out for. Definitely.

• ES) Would you like to see Werdum at ONE?

• Miesha Tate) I would love to see Werdum. Werdum is a great person, always been a gentleman to me, really a nice person. He is goofy, he is funny, he is quirky. He is a hell of a fighter and you know he and Brandon Vera has fought before. I mean that’s the fight that would be exciting for everybody and you know he beat Brandon so maybe Brandon feels like there is some unfinished business. I know for me it feels like anybody I have ever lost to, you wanna get it back right. So it would be like cool-head if we are speaking with that was something that would happen I think, will definitely be a treat for the fans.

• ES) And for the treat for the fans, you all are planning to move to the United States through live events and of course the North American talents would feature prominently. Now those plans have been scuppered due to the Coronavirus and when you all would be ideally considering having an event in North America, where you have competed for the last part of your career.

• Miesha Tate) I mean, if we could have done it yesterday, we would have. So I mean it’s definitely still on the dock, it’s in the bucket list. It will happen. As far as the timeline, I feel like that is such a difficult question with the COVID circumstances. We just don’t know when a solution to that will happen. So again, I think I just have to project sometime in 2020 (baffles), keep saying that. Excuse me, I want 2020 to be gone. Get it out of here. 2021. Will be looking to do that. We are hoping for the end of 2020, but obviously, as you mentioned. It has been scuppered but we do have a lot of great talents, Angela Lee, her brother, Christian Lee, DJ, Aung La, I mean the list goes on, Eddie Alvarez and more. So we are not hunting for talent in the US. It’s just like the matter of when we can get over there and make an event happen and a lot of that weight is put on the COVID-19 situation.

• ES) And the United States fights are mostly sold with trash-talking you have looked down on it for the last part of your career and ONE Championship promotes the values of integrity, humility, courage, all the Asian core-values. Now, do you think, trash-talking if used in limitation is a vital selling point or purely martial arts can make a great deal?

• Miesha Tate) For ONE Championship it’s definitely more about the values and wholesome aspects. We want any investors or company who want to rep their brands to feel good about what they are putting their product on and not feel like, they are gonna pull product off from an athlete or away from ONE Championship because something crazy and unexpected happens like you know throwing bottles into the audience, people flying over the cages. It’s exciting right, but it’s not good. At the end of the day it’s not good and sure it gets clickbait headlines and something, but at the end of the day, it’s kinda disturbing. I don’t think anybody really feels good about being a part of that sport, so we don’t want that. It’s not like people have to like each other at ONE Championship, you know what I mean and there’s plenty that don’t and they voice that they don’t like somebody, they are gonna let you know. But they do it in boundaries. There are no low blows. They are respectful enough. So I think that’s I appreciate that, and that’s kind of resonates with me as well.

• ES) Having a part of Women’s MMA ever since it has started receiving mainstream attention and how do you feel it has evolved over the decade wherein the earlier part of the decade you were a competitor and a champion and now behind the desk. How do you feel it has evolved in terms of endearing competitions, level of athletes, and pay as well?

• Miesha Tate) Well, the whole sport continues to grow and impress. I am just gonna use Paige VanZant as an example. There was a time when women were not allowed to fight in UFC, and it wasn’t that long ago. It was 2013 that women made the debut and before that, a lot of my career before that. I mean, we had almost no options. It was like Strike Force pretty much, and we were blessed that Scott Coker took a chance on us. But then we got into UFC and now there’s women like Paige VanZant who said I am gonna finish my contract and see what my options are. How great is that you know, so she has options, she potentially knows what will happen with her but it’s great to see that women are not only getting by with fighting but flourishing you know and getting paid better and I still want to continue to make a difference here in Asia coz not everywhere in the world you know, is everybody celebrating the martial arts form for women as well as for the arts of men. So there’s still work to do. Always work to do, but we are chipping away.

• ES) Now a few male fighters have come out and complained about the pay disparity like they are not getting an equal share of it from the UFC. Noticeably the women have been silent on the issues. Like why do you think this is so?

• Miesha Tate) You know it just could be circumstantials, to be honest. It could be that it hasn’t happened so much with the females or maybe the females feel a little more grateful, to be honest. Like I said it hasn’t been that long that we have that opportunities, so for a lot of women who are fighting in the UFC right now are genuinely grateful for the opportunities. So I mean it could be a number of things, I guess I am just kind of hypocriticising over here. I don’t have an answer to exactly, I don’t have any insight information. So these are all kinda my thoughts that I am sharing with you, it’s probably just circumstantial.

• ES) How do you think the ONE’s Women’s division is shaping up? You all have Muay Thai, Kickboxing, and MMA for the atom weights, but there are only rank competitors for MMA in strawweight? Would there be a Muay Thai and Kickboxing for strawweight soon?

• Miesha Tate) Yeah, I mean we are continuously developing on those divisions and fill them out and find more talent you know. I think everybody has to keep in mind that ONE Championship is still a pretty young company too, so we are uncovering talents regularly and building these divisions and we already have some really badass females but you know it takes time to develop full and solid and rankings too. I mean, it takes a lot of work, takes a lot of dedication to that. So I guess it’s just the combination of things and to answer your question; Yes, that’s coming.

• ES) That’s coming, and you spoke about the badass stars and one of the manes you mentioned earlier in the conversation was Angela Lee. Is she someone who has a great potential to lead the Women’s MMA at ONE, considering she has been the atomweight champion for four years now and has not last it and she is only 24?

• Miesha Tate) She is incredible. Angela Lee is the total package. She is one of the nicest people you will ever meet and she can fight her ass off. She is just a beautiful monster and I love her. She is great, she will, without a doubt, she is a great pioneer of the sport and she is really an icon for women, you know she is Singaporian, she has got this great cultural presence and a lot of women coming from Asia. Not everybody can say, she is leading by example and she is absolutely umm… she kills it. Not just for ONE Championship, but as a person.

• ES) Now you had mentioned about ONE being more for safety and family values and having competed as an athlete in multiple organizations and being an executive as well. Do you see any differences in how the UFC treats differently, how Strike Force was different in terms of managing the talent?

• Miesha Tate) Yeah, they are. I mean each promotion is differently different but I think for me you develop relationships with people inside the organization and relationship can differ, you know. You have different friends, you have different co-workers. You have all different things. I wouldn’t say something that is been so much exactly on an organization, as it is. Those relationships that you have in an organization. I had great experiences in the Strike Force, I had a great experience in UFC and I had an amazing experience so far here in ONE FC so maybe it’s just people who love martial arts and are just really cool. I don’t know, I always had really great experiences. So I have little but no complaints on any end of it. (Laughs) So, that’s what it is.

• ES) And now ONE has announced that they will be bringing their version of the apprentice to the screen. How excited are you? Considering that it’s a sport organization and they are having a reality series to promote the business side of things. It’s not been done by the other promotions before. What you make of this?

• Miesha Tate) I think it’s so cool and I love that there is going to be some full physical challenges. You know. I think that brings such an exciting element of the apprentice that has never been done before, but I mean what do you expect from martial arts organizations. You know from Chatri himself like he is a martial artist first and foremost. And he is a businessman, he is a family man, he wears so many different hats, but if you are going to be an apprentice of Chatri, he trains every single day, every day. He makes time, he is one of the busiest men I know but every day he is putting on his gloves and trains every day. So if we truly are gonna be an apprentice of Chatri, you kind of have to understand that there’s some physical element. Not that people need to be scared that we drill them into the ground (Laughs) or anything like that but that is important to understand that a lot of what we do is understanding the sport of martial art and I think that element is really gonna add up fun-twist into the apprentice.

• ES) Would you make an appearance in the apprentice, considering that your transition to the corporate role?

• Miesha Tate) Well, that’s the plan. I hope so I hope COVID doesn’t put too much more of a halt on that coz we have been trying to get the show going and it just sucks. Everything has been pushed off and the whole world is feeling it, right? I mean everybody has to adjust and make adjustments so hopefully, it happens sooner or later but yeah, that is the plan.

• ES) In addition to the corporate role, you also serve as a coach at EVOLVE MMA. Can you tell us about the EVOLVE MMA and how does it feel to be an instructor rather than a competitor and shaping the minds of future mixed martial artists?

• Miesha Tate) You know this is the first time I got to coach on a regular basis. I have thought things before but getting into work with the same people for week and a week, it’s been really fun for me and there’s something special and getting to watch people flourish with the knowledge that you can help them with and I really enjoy it, I like coaching, I work with the amateur team primarily and they are great. They are a few great fighters and some people who just like to come in and train, it’s fun to share knowledge. And I lean things from them as well, you know, you are never just the teacher. You always have to have a student out, like outlook on it, so I enjoy growing and learning from them as well.

• ES) Really emphasizes what you mean about martial arts, is you have never learnt, you are always a student, even as a teacher. You have said this before.

• Miesha Tate) One hundred percent, always, always a student. Every chance that you have to learn something and I don’t care if somebody is first week on the mat, or they are black belt. I mean realistically, there are things that can be learnt from every level, and every skill set and every discipline so I think it’s important that anytime you step foot into the martial arts gym, you just have to have the mindset that you are there to learn, even if you are there to teach, you are still there to learn.

• ES) Having retired almost four years ago at Madison Square Garden at UFC 205, you moved to a corporate role, you are liking it and in addition to that you also serve as a commentator at ONE events, and you conduct the pre- and post-fight interviews. Now at such a time, do you ever think that its time for me to strap on the gloves and get back in again? Liki in talking to the fighters and hearing how they are preparing or their exuberance after the match like does that give the rise of a competitor within you?

• Miesha Tate) You know that the fighter evoke a lot of emotion in me and I feel like I am very with them in that moment and I live by curiously through them but I would be honest like it hasn’t come to like it hasn’t hit me, you know like if it’s meant to be. I will know.  And it hasn’t you know. I say yeah, I am waiting for it. I am not waiting for it, I am not discontent. I am really happy with my life now and if I never fight again, totally fine with me. But I am one of those people you ask me like, ‘Was it a hard decision to move to Singapore?’ Like no, when it’s just like BANG when you know you know. And I will not sit and be like, should I come back, should I. No, if it’s meant to be, I will just know and everyone else will know too. So, right now, I am happy. I got two beautiful babies and a great family living in Singapore and always doing amazing things and I don’t feel like I am missing anything.

• ES) Mostly not going to happen at present, but when you competed you stood across the cage from some of the most dangerous women to ever set foot in. Now the GOAT debate is also open for a lot of queries and has a lot of opinions but you have been staunched on your opinion being Amanda Nunes the GOAT. Do you think there’s anyone who can end her near five and a half years undefeated streak?

• Miesha Tate) Oh my goodness. That she hasn’t fought yet, you know I would have loved to see her fight Cat Zingano again. I am not sure that you know Cat Zingano would have the answers necessarily but it would have been really fun to see, and she does have a win over her. Right now it’s hard to pin anybody like that’s the woman you know and Amanda has solidified herself as the GOAT and she is so good at what she does. I think anybody that faces her. It’s hard to say that you feel like they are gonna beat her, you know, but I love watching her fight. She is a hell of a woman, I think she has cleared off the division pretty well. So we see what’s next for her. (Laughs)

• ES) Did you see her last match at UF 250 against Felicia Spencer?

• Miesha Tate) Yeah, her last one was against Felicia Spencer. What was the question?

• ES) Did you watch that match and what did you make of Felicia’s performance?

• Miesha Tate) Felicia was exactly what I thought it was gonna be. Felicia is young, ambitious, endurable, and tough and she went and fought with a lot of heart but she is just too green. And I think Amanda is so explosive for the division. She really kinda fights more like a guy than she does like a woman. She is just incredible, and it’s hard for women to be on par with her skill set, her explosivity, and her experience which she has been doing for very long time as well. You know, Felicia did great, and she was very impressive. Somebody I will give a shout-out though is a friend of mine is, Julianna Peña. She hasn’t fought Amanda yet and I think you know she is a fighter too, away from getting that opportunity. But I think somebody who can grapple and wrestle well is probably gonna be the person who has answered to Amanda, so you now, we will see, we will see if anybody can drag her to the ground and maybe snatch something which she is not expecting. I don’t see anybody beating her in the striking department, she is just (Laughs), she hits like a truck.

• ES) You had recently commented on the stoppage in the men’s bantamweight championship fight between Jose Aldo and Petr Yan. You said that you would rather have a referee who allows you to be a fighter rather than someone who protects you because that’s what you have been signed on for. But at times, a referee do get a lot of stick for letting the fight go on and endangering safety, now what is your take on that? Are the referees under too much of pressure?

• Miesha Tate) The referee, that is just a thankless job. People are never gonna be totally happy, and it’s really tough and I know under the heat of the moment and they don’t even have the same viewpoint that we do, sitting at home, comfortably and from our TV, you know. So, we have to understand what a difficult job that is and their job is to protect us but it’s also to understand us and I think to know a fighter you can’t be overly precautious, you have to allow the fighter every opportunity to do their job. And their job is to fight and if you are gonna be somebody who stops the fight because somebody got dropped, you know I think that’s wrong. Unless they are clearly out. If somebody gets dropped, I think you have to let the fight continue at least for a moment on the ground to make sure that umm…., because it’s not boxing right, it’s not kickboxing. There’s no standing 10 counts, there’s none of that. So we get one opportunity, just because it goes to the ground, doesn’t mean it’s done. So, I was not upset at all about the Jose Aldo and Petr Yan fight. I know some people felt like it was really late. I don’t, I mean could have stopped a bit earlier, yeah you can make that argument but I would not say it was a bad stoppage.

• ES) Now about dropping fights, there was another fight at Fight Island between Francisco Trinaldo and Jai Herbert. Trinaldo dropped Herbert and Herbert collapsed and Trinaldo just stopped for an instant and even the commentator was screaming at the referee to call the fight, but Trinaldo landed four more blows after going down and then the fight got stopped. Now, what would you comment on that stoppage? Was that a bit… He clearly couldn’t defend himself?

• Miesha Tate) So I watched that a lot of times and as far as many angles as I had access to and from Herb’s point of view I think what happened, I think when the fighter fell back and his arm came up and knee came up on the correct side on the defensive side, which leads you to believe that there’s something going on. Right and he is trying to mount some kind of defense and he understands where he is relative to other fighter where his opponent is. I think Herb should have been a bit closer, and I think he should have tried to stop it after the first blow that landed on the ground. Once it was on the ground, the three after that was a little bit hard to watch because once you realize his head bounce off the mat. Then it was he wasn’t as aware as he may be wanting to give him the chance that maybe he is right? But, you can’t tell and he was like you know Robbie Lawler against Ben Askren, right? When he had him in the choke and everybody, even the commentators we all, I thought he was out and Herb Dean tried to check. The point in case is, it’s really a tough job to do and you never know you are just doing it exactly right but I prefer a referee who errs on the side of the fighters to be able to do their jobs than you know everyone stopping fights way too soon. It’s heartbreaking. People don’t realize that our career is dependent on having an opportunity to at least to win. So yeah, safety is a part of it but think about if you were that fighter and you know you were okay, you got clipped and you got knocked down but you knew what was going on, you were ready to fight on the ground. You had your wits about you, reff stopped it just because, you know it’s like the person loses half of their pay and their spots in the ranking and you know if it’s a number one contender fight or anything like that, like Jose Aldo and Pet Yan. I mean this is like a huge important fight so I can’t stress that enough, like how much that means to the fighters who have every opportunity to fight and to win. There’s a reason why we have a comeback of the year award you know every year because fighters do it all the time. Fighters are crazy. You think a fighter is completely done. Sometimes they are but sometimes they come back to shock the world. So just give them that opportunity.

• ES) ONE is continuously expanding and India is an untagged market and you all have Women’s atomweight MMA competitor Ritu Phogat, undefeated in her professional career, is she someone who can lead the ONE movement into India or is it too early in her career to say how good she might be?

• Miesha Tate) Well it’s certainly early in her career but if you look at what she has been able to do, I would say her trajectory is a pretty safe bet that she is gonna do big things, she is gonna do great because she people understand how much she already to overcome to be where she is at and that’s what she does. This woman overcomes, and she leads, you know. I don’t even think she even realizes the effect she will have, but she is going to be somebody for India that you know she will be an icon, she already is an icon I guess, she would be somebody who people will look back on and will be like so amazed and women would be inspired. She will forever change what the sport of Mixed Martial Arts means to people around the world and not just India, of course representing India, I think it’s close to home because it hasn’t been done. It hasn’t been done in India yet, right? It hasn’t been done by so she is setting a precedent, she is breaking glass ceilings, she is marching down and she wants to become a champion and I know she has every ability to do that. She is a very hard worker, she has got a great wrestling skill set and her other skills, you couldn’t ask them to develop faster than they are. So She is really, I think she is on a great path to success.

• ES) We have got time for one fan question here, one fan is asking us, which is the one fight that Miesha Tate would love to have a do-over in her career?

• Miesha Tate) The one fight I wanna pick more than one. Okay, just one. It’s really tough because obviously there’s the Ronda fight, right? And I felt like I was so close to getting that trilogy and it just sucked how wet down but it also a part of me has always wanted to avenge the loss against Cat Zingano, coz I really felt cheated in that last, I felt cheated, see here’s my crazy coming out like I didn’t feel that fight should have been stopped. I was still in the fight and I was (“35:32”), I was taking damage but I felt like I was still in the fight and so I am mad about that one. You know the Ronda loss is like you know what she was a better woman that night and sure I would love another crack at it. I would like to fight her as many times it takes for me to beat her. That’s just how I look at it. But I am more bitter about the loss to Cat because I wanted to keep fighting and like that was taken from me by the ref and maybe that’s why.

• ES)- That’s why you maintain that the referee should let their fighters do their job as fighters?
• Miesha Tate) Say again?

• ES) Is that why you maintain that the referrers should let the fighters do their job as fighters?

• Miesha Tate) Yeah, I mean I think there’s a lot of stress from them because there’s so much on the line for that fight you know, you get to coach the Ultimate Fighter, that’s what the fight was for and to solidify a spot as the number one contender and you know I am lucky, so fortunate I still got to do those things, even coming from a loss because unfortunately Cat Zingano, she tore her ACL or something. She had to have a surgery ad she couldn’t do it, so I got to step in anyways but I mean that not happened, Imagine like if there was no Ultimate Fighter without Ronda and I. Just think about it, I mean how much she was a part of the storyline that was and that would have never ever happened had everything gone the way it was planned to because the referee stepped in and you know I remember her telling me, all you gotta do is show me your skill in the fight and I don’t feel like I ever showed her like I wasn’t still on the fight, granted yes, I was taking damage but I was fighting, let me do my job.

• And that’s all we have for today. Thank you so much for joining us Miesha Tate, it’s been a great pleasure chatting with you.

• TATE: Yes, absolutely, thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Thanks for watching everybody. Sending much love, stay safe, stay well, do your social distancing, wear your mask, wash your hands, all that good stuff. Lots of love, bye everybody.