Miesha Tate is clearly one of the top competitors in the UFC women’s bantamweight ranks and one of the organization’s biggest stars, regardless of which side of the gender divide you’re talking about.
The former Strikeforce titleholder and The Ultimate Fighter 18 coach is currently the “First Lady of The Franklin Zone,” that wondrous state of purgatory inhabited by talented fighters that have lost to the reigning champion in their respective weight classes on more than one occasion–like Rich Franklin did to Anderson SIlva years ago. For the record, Joseph Benavidez is currently the Mayor of The Franklin Zone. Other inhabitants include Junior dos Santos and Benson Henderson.
Though Tate would obviously be interested in a third matchup with Ronda Rousey and the UFC would certainly consider it given the amount of attention it would garner, Tate’s current role in the women’s 135-pound ranks is to be a secondary draw and a fighting measuring stick for the promotion.
Just as Cat Zingano’s victory over Tate catapulted her into the title picture, this weekend’s matchup opposite Rin Nakai is designed to give the unbeaten newcomer the best opportunity possible to become an instant contender.
While the bout maintains middle position on this weekend’s six-fight main card in Saitama, Japan, it’s easily the most interesting fight on the card because Nakai is such a wild card and Tate is so clearly established within the division. The heavyweight main event between Mark Hunt and Roy Nelson brings more thunder and Myles Jury’s bout with Takanori Gomi offers another chance to get nostalgic for the glory days of “The Fireball Kid,” the Tate-Nakai pairing is both stylistically interesting and full of championship implications.
It’s rare that a first-time UFC fighter debuts against someone as established and accomplished as Tate and that should automatically create engagement for fight fans. Newcomers, especially those with as impressive a record as Nakai, are often given showcase opportunities first–fights that tilt in their favour and serve as an introduction to the audience before they move on to bigger and more competitive fights.
This weekend, Nakai is being dropped into the deep end of the women’s bantamweight ranks in a pairing with Tate, a seasoned, elite fighter who has been in the cage with some of the best in the division. It’s a sink or swim situation and one that will go a long way to determining where the Japanese newcomer stands within the 135-pound ranks.
As much as there are questions surrounding the level of competition Nakai has faced during her rise to an undefeated 16-0-1 record heading into this weekend, the 27-year-old has earned consecutive victories over veteran American competitors Tara LaRosa and Sarah D’Alelio and earned praise from LaRosa for her strength on the ground.
She’s a new addition to a division that is still developing and is in constant need for fresh talent, plus Nakai already has a following amongst hardcore fans because of a series of strange and curious YouTube videos she starred in over the years for Pancrase.
Debuting in Japan should make things less stressful and give her a better chance at winning, given the struggles we’ve seen from several of her compatriots when they’ve been asked to compete in North America.
Coming in an posting a victory over Tate in her debut would have to catapult Nakai into the Top 10 in the women’s bantamweight division, considering “Cupcake” currently sits at No. 2 in the rankings and fighters like Julianna Pena and Holly Holm find themselves ranked despite the former being injured and the latter having yet to set foot in the Octagon.
And it’s not like a win is out of the question.
As high profile as Tate has become since joining the organization in 2013, she’s just 1-2 in her three UFC appearances, winning her latest outing against Liz Carmouche after dropping back-to-back contests to Zingano and Rousey. Over her last five fights, the 28-year-old Washington native and current Xtreme Couture representative is only 2-3 and ran the risk of losing both her matchup with Carmouche and her final Strikeforce contest against Julie Kedzie as well.
Of course, the two-time Rousey challenger could also come out and hand Nakai the first loss of her career and make it look easy, which is why this is such an intriguing contest.
Tate has improved her striking a great deal over the last year and change, transitioning from being primarily a grappler to an increasingly well-rounded competitor. As much as her new nickname should remain the sole property of former Bellator welterweight Lloyd Woodard, dropping the “Takedown” moniker made a lot of sense for Tate as that part of her game has become less central to her success and offensive repertoire in recent years.
Saturday’s event, which airs exclusively in its entirety on UFC Fight Pass, features several fun matchups and a number of promising talents that should fight fans should be tracking. Tate vs. Nakai ranks at the top of the list.