This past Saturday kicking off the main card of UFC Long Island was a women’s flyweight contest. Former bantamweight champion Miesha Tate (19-9) was making her flyweight debut as she was taking on former title challenger Lauren Murphy (16-5).
This was a big test for Tate who was going right towards the top of the flyweight division. Given the lack of fresh challengers for UFC champion Valentina Shevchenko, it was thought that Tate would get a title shot with a victory.
It was the second straight fight where Tate had a title fight on the line. Had she defeated Ketlen Vieira in her last bantamweight fight, she would’ve likely gone right into a title shot rather that be at 135 or 125.
Tate looked great after the weight cut and she didn’t seem to have any issues making 125. However, her performance was not strong at UFC Long Island. All night long, Tate looked like she was struggling to pull the trigger on the feet.
She wasn’t able to get Murphy down with her wrestling and she was really struggling with the speed. Murphy was piecing her up all night and the result was a rather lopsided decision loss which marked the second straight defeat for Miesha Tate.
What’s next after UFC Long Island?
This is a really tough loss for Tate because as mentioned, she would’ve had a title shot with a victory. She looked slow and really struggled throwing shots on Saturday. However, maybe we can just chalk that up to getting used to the new weight class.
Now that she’s made the cut and the walk at 125, what’s next for the former UFC champion? Well, I think she should get a top ten opponent, but someone more on the back-end of the top ten.
Someone with name recognition and a tie to Valentina Shevchenko. I think the UFC should book her against former title challenger Jennifer Maia. Maia is 1-2 since fighting for the title including back-to-back losses.
She’s ranked just inside the top ten and would be a good challenge for Tate. If Tate could defeat Maia and look good doing it, she would only be a win or two away from getting another crack at UFC gold.