After years of playing second fiddle to Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate finally became the champion of the women's bantamweight division at UFC 196. Now, she'll look to use the grand stage of UFC 200 to keep that position as she defends her title for the first time against Amanda Nunes.
It isn't the matchup MMA fans are clamoring for. A rubber match with Rousey still remains the most intriguing, with a rematch against Holly Holm not too far behind.
However, with Rousey still sitting on the sidelines and Tate ready to return to action, Nunes emerged as the next fighter to get a crack at the belt. The matchup might not have the same sizzle as a bout against one of the bigger names in the division, but Nunes is undoubtedly a tough matchup for anyone.
Here's a look at how the two stack up statistically and a look at the road each of them took to get to this spot:
| Tate | Nunes | |
| 18-5 | Record | 12-4 |
| 12:22 | Average Fight Time | 5:55 |
| 65" | Reach | 69" |
| 1.99 | Strikes Landed/Minute | 3.67 |
| 52% | Striking Defense | 47% |
| 2.18 | Takedowns/15 Minutes | 2.22 |
| 53% | Takedown Defense | 60% |
FightMetric
Amanda Nunes: The Vitor Belfort of Women's MMA
Nunes is an ultra-aggressive Brazilian striker with the ability to put anyone away in the first round. She also has the potential to gas out if that aggression doesn't net a first-round finish.
Sound like anyone else in MMA?
Watching Nunes fight, there are definitely some parallels to Vitor Belfort in her game. Belfort is the ultimate first-round finisher in UFC history. He holds the record with 15 such stoppages in the Octagon. Nunes will probably never reach that number, but nine of her 12 career victories have come by way of stoppage in the first round.
It's that stopping power that led her to this opportunity, according to UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby.
"It's pretty easy," Shelby said, per Brian Campbell of ESPN.com. "Amanda has the best win streak in the division, and she is very dangerous. She's arguably the best stand-up fighter in the division. She can take anybody out within one round."
Just like her Brazilian male counterpart, though, she becomes much less dangerous as fights wear on. Belfort is just 4-5 in decisions in his career. While Nunes has only gone to the cards twice, she's just 1-1 in those fights.
She landed just three strikes in the third round of her latest decision win over Valentina Shevchenko as she coasted off a great first two rounds.
Nunes has put on some impressive performances to get to this spot, although not against the big names of the division. Her best win was a first-round submission over former title contender Sara McMann, but outside of that, her wins have come against the likes of Shayna Baszler and Germaine de Randamie.
A fight against Tate will be the ultimate step up in competition for her.
Miesha Tate: The Durable One
Miesha Tate's win against Holly Holm her last time out was the quintessential Miesha Tate performance.
It wasn't always pretty. She didn't consistently win rounds. Yet at the end of the fight, she was the one with her hand raised.
Tate has skills. You don't become a UFC champion without them. However, her biggest attribute may be her durability and cardio. She was outpointed by Holm throughout the fight but was able to pull off the latest title change in UFC history at the 3:30 mark of the fifth round.
It was a testament to how much heart Tate has and just how difficult she is to beat.
In fact, Tate hasn't lost since her second submission loss to Rousey in December 2013. Since then, she's been on a five-fight wins streak, with all of those wins coming by decision other than her win over Holm.
Taking this fight against Nunes isn't without its risks. Not only is she putting her win streak on the line against a dangerous opponent, but she's taking the same chance that Holly Holm did in that it could cost her a big-money fight down the line.
Tate could stand to make a big payday in rematches against Rousey and Holm or a catchweight bout with Cyborg Justino, who just made her UFC debut at 140 pounds, but now Tate will have to get past Nunes to set those up.
That isn't something that crossed her mind when agreeing to this bout, though.
"I took this fight because the UFC called me up and asked me if I would fight and I said yes," Tate said, per Campbell. "It's as simple as that. There was no mention of any other names."
Should she get upset by Nunes like she upset Holm, it's definitely something she'll be forced to think about a little more.
Prediction
The outline of this fight is fairly simple.
Tate has to ride out the storm. Few in the division can create one the way that Nunes can, but few in the sport can ride them out like Tate.
In one corner you have a fighter in Nunes who can end anyone's night in the first round. In the other, a gamer who will hang on as long as she needs to in order to grind out later rounds. Tate knows this and pointed to her ability to break opponents as the reason she would be victorious, per the UFC Twitter account:
"She has a tendency to break in fights. I break people in fights" - @MieshaTate #UFC200 https://t.co/SZdSOck4BS
— #UFCFightWeek (@ufc) July 6, 2016
That's not a given, though. Nunes is a different challenge than Holm. While the former champion was able to land strikes against Tate with some regularity, Holm has never been a devastating one-blow striker. She's much more methodical in the way that she uses her kickboxing to break down opponents over time.
Tate really hasn't seen someone as powerful in the striking department as Nunes since her loss to Cat Zingano in 2013.
However, Zingano was able to win that by having the cardio to get the finish in the third round.
With Nunes gassing in the third round of her last fight, it's hard to imagine she has the cardio to last all five rounds with Tate's grueling wrestling and tenacity.
Prediction: Tate via fourth-round TKO.
