Caraway shoulders blame for Tate's title loss, believes she's better fighter than Nunes

UFC bantamweight contender Bryan Caraway has long served as girlfriend Miesha Tate’s head coach. And while Caraway is certainly prone to his fair share of criticism as a fighter, he’s heaping some upon himself as a coach.

Caraway said he believes he’s partially to blame for Tate’s loss in the main event of UFC 200, a result that saw Amanda Nunes claim the women’s bantamweight title.

“It’s really hard,” Caraway told MMAjunkie Radio. “She worked so hard for such a long time to get there. The camp was good. Everything was really good leading up to the week of the fight. Then just everything seemed to kind of – it’s like, the camps that have been the worst camps ever, the fights have been the best weeks.

“The camp was so good. I think because it was so good, I felt almost a little lackadaisical to take some credit on my part, definitely on my shoulders, and I don’t think I was there like I should have been. I was probably overconfident.”

Tate (18-6 MMA, 5-3 UFC) was riding high heading into UFC 200, boasting a five-fight winning streak and looking to defend the UFC title she earned with a UFC 196 win over Holly Holm. But the powerful Nunes (13-4 MMA, 6-1 UFC) wasn’t interested in any feel-good stories, instead battering Tate with strikes before finishing her with a rear-naked choke on the floor.

Caraway said he was encouraged by the lead-up to the fight, but he thinks mistakes were made during the final few days – which may explain why it seemed Tate struggled to make weight.

“Some stuff fell apart the week of the fight a little bit, and it was kind of rough,” Caraway said. “It is what it is. When you’re fighting for the UFC world title or the No. 1 spot in any particular sport, you can’t be on your A game. You have to be on your A+ game. You have to give 100 percent. You can’t have a bad day.

“Some people go to work all the time and maybe have a bad day or spilled coffee or some little thing. Those little differences can make the difference between being world champ and not, and Amanda Nunes came out there and looked phenomenal. She was on point. She was crisp. My hat’s off to her.”

Despite the loss, Tate features prominently on next month’s landmark UFC 205 event in New York. Meanwhile, Nunes will put her belt on the line against former champ Ronda Rousey in the main event of the UFC’s year-end UFC 207 event.

Nunes currently occupies the top slot in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA women’s bantamweight rankings, while Tate is No. 3. Victories by both women could potentially lead to a rematch of the UFC 200 class, though there are certainly no guarantees in a division that has been constantly changing over the past year.

But Caraway believes if Tate gets another shot at Nunes, there will certainly be a different result.

“(Nunes) looked phenomenal,” Caraway said. “But who do I think the better fighter still is? I think Miesha is the better fighter, and I think she will win that title back.”

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