UFC Fight Night 52 results: Miesha Tate cruises, hands Rin Nakai her first loss

SAITAMA, Japan – Miesha Tate‘s height advantage against Rin Nakai may have worked against her a bit.

Nakai found some success at ducking under several of Tate’s punches and elbows to then look for takedowns. But it was Tate’s takedown defense that was on stage, and though Nakai (16-1-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) threatened with a couple submissions, Tate (15-5 MMA, 2-2 UFC) mostly cruised to a unanimous decision win.

The women’s bantamweight bout was part of the main card of today’s UFC Fight Night 52 card at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass.

Nakai used some unorthodox movement on the outside early, but the much taller Tate got inside and was successful with her first combination. Nakai looked for a takedown off a Tate kick, but Tate pushed her to the fence, then tripped her to the ground. Nakai threatened with upkicks, then got back to her feet. Nakai caught another kick, but Tate stayed on her feet. Nakai shot with 1:45 left in the round, but Tate sprawled out of it. Tate landed a kick and followed it with a right that forced Nakai again to clinch up. But again, Tate managed to stave off the takedown attempt.

Nakai ducked under a Tate uppercut early in the second, and again the Japanese fighter wanted a takedown. But Tate didn’t let her have it. Nakai paid the price for catching another kick as Tate blasted away with punches – and still managed to stay upright. But Nakai stayed after it, and took Tate’s back with both hooks in. Tate slid her off, though, and reversed position to get on top to work out of Nakai’s guard. Tate landed big elbows from the top as Nakai looked for a submission. The fight went back to the feet with 90 seconds left in the round, but Nakai couldn’t get anything done.

Right away in the third, Nakai slipped a Tate punch and took her back after a takedown attempt. As Tate got back to her feet, Nakai jumped to her back before Tate shrugged her off and cruised to the bell.

Tate won for the second straight time after an April win over Liz Carmouche. Nakai suffered the first loss of her professional career.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 52 results include:

• Miesha Tate def. Rin Nakai via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
• Kiichi Kunimoto def. Richard Walsh via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Kyoji Horiguchi def. Jon Delos Reyes via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 3:48
• Masanori Kanehara def. Alex Caceres via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Katsunori Kikuno def. Sam Sicilia via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 1:38
• Hyun Gyu Lim def. Takenori Sato via TKO (elbows) – Round 1, 1:18
• Kyung Ho Kang def. Michinori Tanaka via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Johnny Case def. Kazuki Tokudome via technical submission (guillotine choke) – Round 2, 2:34
• Maximo Blanco def. Daniel Hooker via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 52, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan contributed to this report on site in Japan.)