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Former UFC women's bantamweight champion Miesha Tate announced her return to mixed martial arts last week. After staying away from the octagon for four long years, 'Cupcake' is finally coming back to the division which she once helped gain recognition in the past.
Miesha Tate will make her return against UFC veteran Marion Reneau on July 17th, which will also be the latter's retirement bout.
Miesha Tate is not only returning to the UFC, but is coming to take back the belt that was once hers. Cupcake's ultimate goal is the UFC women's bantamweight title that currently belongs to 'The Lioness', Amanda Nunes.
Speaking on Ariel Helwani's MMA Show recently, Miesha Tate revealed how many fights she thinks she would need to secure a shot at the gold for herself. In Miesha Tate's opinion, two wins should be enough to land a title fight against Amanda Nunes. She expects to fight the champion sometime next summer, during international fight week.
"I think... this sounds crazy, but I think it could be as little as two wins. I think two solid wins, like if I have really good performances and I win, you know, I do well, I could see Amanda be my third fight. I could see it a year from now, to be honest. I could see like July, the international fight week. I could see that. I could see more, obviously. I would say between two and three."
But for now, Miesha Tate is focusing on the job at hand. She believes without winning the fight against Marion Reneau, there is no chance she will fight for the title anytime soon.
"I just can't look too far ahead. Of course I have my long-term goals. I do wanna fight for the belts again. I do wanna be a champion again. But none of that is possible, if I don't win this fight and do a good job."
Miesha Tate on Marion Reneau: She can spoil your night real fast
Despite people counting Marion Reneau out for the fight against Miesha Tate, she herself is making no such mistake. 'Cupcake' gave her opponent due credit, despite Reneau having lost her last four octagon outings.
However, all four of them were decision losses, and quite close ones in Miesha Tate's opinion.
"There's a lot of ground to cover before I get to that point of course. I've got to stay really focused on Marion Reneau because she can spoil your night real fast and she's a really good fighter. She's very solid... She has lost her last four, but I don't look at it like she has lost her last four, because it was so close. Those fights were very close."
Tate also pointed out that Reneau has never been finished inside the cage and holds wins over the likes of Sara McMann and Jessica Andrade.
