Former Bantamweight Champion Miesha Tate may have fought her last UFC bout.
At UFC 205, Tate stepped into the Octagon with a fighter she coached on The Ultimate Fighter, and came up short. Her opponent Raquel Pennington came to New York on a three fight win streak, and extended that to four.
This was a competitive fight with exchanges throughout every round. Pennington got the best of most of the exchanges. Conventionally, a striker would want to avoid grappling with Miesha Tate. However, Pennington was comfortable staying on the ground or in the clinch if Tate took it there. David Tees describes some of the exchanges on Fightful's live viewing party.
The round begins with Tate instantly looking for the takedown against Pennington, Pennington goes back to attacking Tate with jabs. Tate nails a swinging Pennington with a knee strike to the face, Pennington nails Tate with a two punch combo to avoid the takedown. Tate forces Pennington against the cage wall while eating an uppercut, Tate clinches with Pennington and attacks her with some knee strikes. Pennington responds by landing a few knee strikes of her own against Tate, Pennington gets behind Tate while eating an elbow strike. Pennington holds Tate against the cage wall while attacking her with punches, Tate again nails Pennington with a few more knee strikes. Tate spins Pennington and holds her up against the cage wall for the time being, Pennington spins Tate and attacks her with more strikes as the round ends.
Raquel Pennington defeated Miesha Tate via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
Miesha Tate would announce her retirement after the fight, citing her unsatisfactory performance cemented her retirement, and it was time for the future to step up and have an opportunity.
Fightful.com has round-by-round coverage provided by David Tees.
