Miesha Tate raised a lot of eyebrows at UFC 205 when she announced her decision to retire from the sport in the Octagon after a loss to Raquel Pennington.
During a new media sitdown, Tate reveals that she hadn’t been thinking about retirement leading up to the fight, but that it became clear to her that it was time to hang up her gloves during the bout.
“I just knew after like the first exchange that I just didn’t want to do it anymore,” Tate told MMAjunkie. “So it was just kind of one of those things that just like stuck it out, but I knew I had a lot more to give, and I just didn’t give it.
“I don’t know. It’s just one of those things. It’s kind of odd, to be honest. But yeah, just lacking a little bit of the competitive edge to want to punch people in the face.”
The 30 year-old says she prefers the term ‘transition’ rather than ‘retirement’ since, “you might see more of me now,” as she looks to promote events and engage in more broadcasting work.
“It looks like something will come to fruition with FOX at some point, so we’ll just see how that all unfolds. I think there’s going to be a lot of things that I have to look forward to. I’ve got to kind of sit down and talk to my management and see exactly what’s next.”
Her competitive edge appears as if it’s not been completely snuffed out though as she revealed that she’s set to take place in a Submission Underground grappling match next month with Jessica Eye, promoted by Chael Sonnen.
As for the chances of ever seeing her in the Octagon again, the former UFC woman’s bantamweight champion stopped just short of completely shutting the door on her 18-7 career.
“You never know, but at this point it’s not something I’m thinking about.”
