Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate suffered a unanimous decision loss to Yana Santos earlier this month, and she’s now undecided as to whether she’ll step back into the Octagon in the future or not.
Prior to that fight the 38-year-old Tate was last seen in the Octagon back in December of 2023 when she submitted Julia Avila with a face crank, but she’s now revealed that she actually suffered the worst injury of her career during that win.
“I had my hooks in on her back, one of which was a bit shallow, and I really went to be very aggressive to try to force her from back to belly, belly down, and I ripped two if my ligaments and I had to have reconstructive surgery,” Tate says in an Instagram video. “It was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. It was harder than coming back after having my two kids, and I, at multiple points, bawled my eyes out and thought I would never be able to fight again — which I really wanted to have that fight.“
With that in mind, Tate says she views being able to fight against Santos as a moral victory, even if the result didn’t go her way.
“After an 18-month layoff, [and] the biggest injury of my career, I can honestly say that I am happy with this performance, and I am happy, even in a loss.”
The broader picture for Tate is that she is now just 2-3 since coming back out of retirement in 2021, but it seems she’s not ready to commit to hanging up her gloves again just yet.
“I am not making any final decisions,” Tate said. “[It] remains to be seen whether I will fight again or not. I’m not going to clarify either of those because I think there is no right or wrong answer.”
