"I know it" - Miesha Tate confident she's the one to beat Valentina Shevchenko

Valentina Shevchenko (left) and Miesha Tate (right) [Images Courtesy: @bulletvalentina and @mieshatate on Instagram]

Miesha Tate favors her chances of being the fighter to unseat Valentina Shevchenko from her throne.

'Cupcake' will test her mettle against Lauren Murphy at UFC on ABC 3 on July 16. The fight was initially scheduled for UFC 276 but fell through and was rescheduled. Tate fielded various questions during her appearance at the UFC Long Island pre-fight media day.

While answering a question regarding whether she's ever had personal interactions with Valentina Shevchenko, Tate said:

"I have and we just ran into each other maybe about a month ago at the Performance Institute... she said something along the lines of like 'now it's ok to be nice. Maybe in the future on fight week, that will be different'... I'm paraphrasing. I said 'yeah absolutely, nothing but respect and love outside of it'... It was comforting to me because I think it meant that she definitely sees me as a future opponent."

When asked a follow-up question about whether she was the one to beat 'The Bullet', Tate said:

"I know it."

Shevchenko has notched seven successful flyweight title defenses, her last being a split decision victory over Taila Santos at UFC 275.

'Bullet' claimed the vacant UFC flyweight world title against Joanna Jędrzejczyk and has since defended the strap against Jessica Eye, Liz Carmouche, Katlyn Chookagian, Jennifer Maia, Jéssica Andrade, and Lauren Murphy.

Watch Miesha Tate's interaction with the media below:

Miesha Tate's path to becoming a two-division champ

The former UFC bantamweight world champion also mentioned in the presser that her cut down to flyweight has been going well. Tate aims to become a two-division champion but must first get things done against the number three ranked 125-pounder Lauren Murphy.

Tate is seemingly progressing along with her fight week quite smoothly in all facets.

Fight week behind the scenes!

#UFCLongIsland #Flyweight https://t.co/w0eQeHdJp3

Miesha Tate will compete just a single day shy of the one-year anniversary of her return. 'Cupcake' returned from a hiatus that lasted for over four-and-a-half years following a loss to Raquel Pennington at UFC 205 in November 2016.

So far, Tate has split a pair of contests at bantamweight (a third-round TKO win over Marion Reneau and a unanimous decision loss to Ketlen Vieira) before now shifting her focus to flyweight.