"If not me then who else?" - Miesha Tate wants a title shot against Valentina Shevchenko if she wins at UFC Long Island
Miesha Tate's fight against Lauren Murphy has been moved to July 16, and while 'Cupcake' is disappointed with the delay, she's confident a win over No. 3 ranked Murphy will earn her a title shot.
The fight with Murphy will be Tate's first at women's flyweight since suffering a defeat at 135 pounds against Ketlen Viera in November 2021. Despite being 1-1 since returning from a five-year retirement, Tate still feels like a win will put her in a position to fight champion Valentina Shevchenko. In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, she said:
"If not me then who else? If I go out and beat Lauren the way I intend to, really ... I don't want to jinx myself so I'm not going to say it, but just watch on the 16th and granted, I do what I feel like I'm going to do, I'm going to go out there and win. She's going to be saying my name pretty often because if not me then who else? You know. Beating Lauren Murphy is a great feather in my camp. And yeah, former world champion. And I'm not here forever, let's get this show on the road."
"I want to fight Valentina. Lauren is a tough, gritty fighter, she's ranked inside the top five. So it'd be a great win for me to put me in that top spot. And Valentina's done a beautiful job of clearing everybody else out so the division is really wide open."
Watch the full MMA Junkie interview with Miesha Tate below:
Miesha Tate is set to take on Lauren Murphy in Long Island, New York for a special UFC Fight Night set to air on ABC.
My reaction when they told me my fight was being moved 2 weeks. 🤬🤬🤬 https://t.co/tcxx8frikE
Miesha Tate believes Taila Santos beat Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 275
UFC 275 featured an extremely close title fight between women's flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko and Taila Santos. While many fans and fighters watching thought Santos had done enough to beat Shevchenko, the judges awarded 'Bullet' a split decision win.
Speaking to MMA Junkie, Miesha Tate shared her thoughts on the fight.
"I only watched it one time and I remember being so shocked by Taila that I think I was watching Talia more. But I will be honest, I felt like Taila won. I thought she won three rounds to two. So that was my impression. I could go back and watch it again, sometimes you watch close fights like that and you're paying attention to one fighter the first time then you go back and you really watch the other fighter and go, 'Oh okay, I see the case can be made that this fighter won.' But my knee-jerk reaction was that I thought Taila won three rounds to two."
With the title fight being as close and controversial as it was, Taila Santos could end up being the one to spoil Tate's title shot plans. That is, if Lauren Murphy doesn't spoil them first.
Are Jiri vs. Glover and Shevchenko vs. Santos rematches in the UFC's plans?
My full interview with Dana White: tsn.ca/UFC/video/whit… https://t.co/JJ5Dd58EvJ