Miesha Tate may have lost out to Ketlen Vieira in the main event of UFC Fight Night 198 this past weekend, but the former champion is staying upbeat about it all while focusing on the positive aspects of her performance.
“Physically, I feel really good,” Tate said on her ‘Throwing Down With Renee And Miesha’ podcast. “My face is definitely swollen…. I got a few stitches. It’s kind of cool because it’s actually the first cut of my career. So it’s kind of cool in a morbid way. I’m kind of like, ‘Oh, I got my first cut!’ So I’ve got the swelling, I’ve got the black eye, but otherwise I’m great. My body does not hurt at all, in any other way.
“I’m proud of the kicks and the overall dispersement in the body that I was able to land. My push kicks looked better, my kicks looked the best they’ve ever looked…. That’s not usually something that I do. I’m not known for kicking, I’m not known for striking so I just think we’ve got to look at that and go, ‘We’ve done some things we’ve never done before.’ Maybe we weren’t perfect at it but that’s how you evolve. You have to be willing to go out there and test yourself and not just play into your A game. Eventually, you’re gonna run into somebody where you need a solid B game and to evolve those things you’ve got to be willing to push yourself and you’ve got to be willing to take those risks and that’s what I did. It didn’t pay off with a victory but in my mind I still learned a tremendous amount, I had fun, I don’t have any regrets.”
Tate opted for retirement after losing a couple of fights back in 2016 due to having fallen out of love with the sport, but the 35-year-old insists that’s not the case this time around.
“I’m really good. I’m in a great place. This is so much different than the first time around, like I’ve said. I have so much more to be grateful for. Before, when I would fight, my fight day would be the last day of my life in my mind. It was the day I died, it was the day that nothing else happened or existed beyond that date. I was obsessed with it and when I would lose, it was crushing and when I would win it was all good. Now, it’s just a moment in time for me. I’m on a journey, I’m enjoying the process, and I’m okay. I’m at peace with this.”
That being said, Tate isn’t in a rush to book another fight in the coming months, and instead is looking forward to spending more time with her family.
“I’m gonna sit around and do a whole lot of nothing. I’m gonna eat. I’m just looking forward to Thanksgiving. I don’t even want to think about the next fight because I have these multiple cups in my life that it’s like sometimes I’m holding onto this cup and that one takes my priority and the other cups, they need their chance to have that precedence too. Right now I’ve put down the cup of fighting, I’m picking up the cup of family life, I’m gonna enjoy Thanksgiving, I’m gonna enjoy Christmas, the New Year, and then we’ll revisit and see what’s next.”
