“Cupcake” doesn’t know if she’s done fighting.
It has been about three weeks since former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s Bantamweight champion, Miesha Tate, dropped a unanimous decision to Yana Santos on UFC Des Moines’ “Prelims” undercard inside Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.
With five losses in her last seven bouts and little hope of another title run, the 38-year-old’s trailblazing career appears to be winding down.
Yet, Tate remains undecided about a second retirement.
In a recent Instagram post, she reflected on whether her loss to Santos will mark her final fight in the Octagon.
“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.”
The future UFC Hall of Famer also shared that she overcame the worst injury of her career before facing Santos, an ordeal that kept her out of action for nearly two years.
“I had my hooks in on [my training partner’s] back, one of which was a bit shallow, and I went to be aggressive to try to force her from back to belly-down. I ripped two of my ligaments and had to have reconstructive surgery,” Tate said. “It was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do—harder than coming back after having my two kids. At multiple points, I bawled my eyes out.
“I thought I’d never fight again, which is why I wanted that fight,” Tate continued. “After an 18-month layoff and the biggest injury of my career, I can honestly say I’m happy with my performance, even in a loss.”
Tate retired for five years after getting destroyed by Raquel Pennington in 2016, but decided to come back for one last title run, which obviously did not happen.
Ending a storied career with a victory would be ideal, but such fairy tale exits are rare (just ask Anthony Smith). Still, “Cupcake” has nothing left to prove — she’s already a UFC champion and a pioneer of the sport.
Time will tell.
To checkout UFC’s upcoming schedule of events click here.
