Las Vegas, NV — After four years out of competition, former UFC bantamweight champ Miesha Tate is “the happiest to be here that I’ve been in a very long time,” she said ahead of UFC Vegas 31 this weekend.
Speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press, Tate (18-7) touched on why she left the sport in the first place. “I just had too much on my plate, and especially like baggage that I just really didn’t need,” she explained. “I needed to clear away things that were taken away from me. As a person, as a human being, we’re all humans, and I think we’ve all been through rough patches in our life, so that was just a really rough time for me.”
“I just needed to step away, regroup. I kind of identified that with the sport, but to be honest, when I’d taken this four years away and I look at it, I’m more in love with the sport than I’ve ever been. So it wasn’t that, it was just the entanglement of everything, and that included the sport,” Tate continued. “And when I had to step away from the toxicity, that meant I had to step away from the sport too, because I just didn’t know how to de-tangle the knot until I was outside of it.”
This time around, Tate is appreciative of a more low-key approach to her return. “I’m so glad I wasn’t on the Conor card. I love that I’ve just been able to focus on what I’ve been doing, and just get my feet wet again. It’s been a while.”
Tate didn’t even go to the McGregor-Poirier 3 card this past weekend as a guest, she added. Instead, she stuck to what she said has been the theme of her camp, which is staying “very ultra-focused.”
This more focused approach to fighting also means that Tate is done with her managerial career. While she had been involved with fighters like Gustavo Lopez, Amanda Serrano, Cheyanne Buys and others, “the extra-curriculars were more, when I retired, as far as managing other fighters, I thought ‘oh well maybe this is a good way to stay involved in the sport and give back from the lessons I’ve learned,'” she told Cageside Press on Wednesday. “But those fighters are all doing great. Cheyanne Buys, she’s in the UFC and so is her husband. They’re all doing fantastic, so I’m very happy for all of them.”
“I will not be working with fighters or managing,” Tate went on to add, “because to be honest, I have kids now and I have a lot of stuff that I have to do. So gotta focus on becoming a champion again, goal number one, and being the best mother I can be.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 31 media day scrum with Miesha Tate above. Tate faces Marion Reneau this Saturday, July 17 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, NV.
