UFC on FOX 16 results: Miesha Tate survives early trouble, shuts out Jessica Eye

Miesha Tate

CHICAGO – Miesha Tate showed off some serious punching power at UFC on FOX 16, hurting and dropping Jessica Eye multiple times on her way to a unanimous decision victory.

The women’s bantamweight bout was the co-main event of today’s UFC on FOX 16 event at United Center in Chicago. It aired on FOX following additional prelims on FOX and UFC Fight Pass.

Eye (11-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) opened up the fight aggressively, throwing big punches at the head of Tate (17-5 MMA, 4-2 UFC). Tate pushed through to land a hook and a jab, but Eye controlled the distance early. Take scored with a big punch that knocked Eye to the canvas. Tate was very happy to work from top position for the remainder of the round, landing a flurry of elbows to the close of the round.

Tate began to utilize a fake takedown into heavy punch a bit too often to start Round 2, allowing Eye to time the technique and counter it. Though Eye was landing some solid straight punches, Tate threw some heavy shots that landed clean to the chin of Eye. Tate again hurt Eye with a big right hand, sending her stumbling. A follow up series of shots put Eye on the ground once again. Tate followed Eye to the canvas and threw a series of hard strikes before almost getting caught in a reverse triangle choke.

Tate locked in a neck crank mixed with one-arm guillotine choke that had Eye in very big trouble. Tate was able to eventually switch to a full guillotine choke and begin to squeeze but the round came to a close before she was able to get the finish.

Eye landed some sharp punches in the early part of Round 3, but Tate drove through a double-leg takedown, putting Eye back on the mat. Tate took the back in the ensuing scramble. Eye was able to lock up Tate’s arms, preventing her from locking in a rear-naked choke and resulting in a rare situation where a fight was stood up by the referee when a fighter had back control.

The fight went the distance and Tate’s bigger shots and ground control were enough to win her the unanimous decision by scores of 30-27 across the board.

With the victory, Tate may get her third crack at UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. She is now on a four-fight winning streak since her UFC 168 armbar loss to Rousey.

Eye was coming off a TKO win over Leslie Smith at UFC 180. She has now lost two of her last three fights witha win over Sarah Kaufman in her UFC debut at UFC 166 having been overturned after a failed drug test.

Up-to-the-minute UFC on FOX 16 results include:

• Miesha Tate def. Jessica Eye via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Edson Barboza def. Paul Felder via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Joe Lauzon def. Takanori Gomi via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 2:37
• Tom Lawlor def. Gian Villante via knockout (punches) – Round 2, 0:27
• Jim Miller def. Danny Castillo via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
• Ben Saunders def. Kenny Robertson via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Bryan Caraway def. Eddie Wineland via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
• James Krause def. Daron Cruickshank via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 1:27
• Andrew Holbrook def. Ramsey Nijem via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Elizabeth Phillips def. Jessamyn Duke via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

For complete coverage of UFC on FOX 16, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s Matt Erickson contributed to this report on site in Chicago.)