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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Miesha Tate said in the lead up to UFC on Fox 16 that she'd been working on her power striking, and believes she's going to be able to start knocking fighters out in the women's 135 lb. division.
While she didn't quite pull that off against Jessica Eye on Saturday night, she did showcase that new power with two knock downs in the three round fight. The tenacious victory was big for Tate, who now finds herself staring down another title fight in the UFC.
That was confirmed at the post-fight press conference by UFC President Dana White, who said Tate will be facing the winner of next week's UFC 190 main event between Ronda Rousey and Bethe Correia for the UFC Women's Bantamweight Championship.
"Miesha is such a durable human being," White said (via FoxSports.com). "She will stand in front of you and take what you've got 'cause she was getting picked apart in that first round and she keeps coming forward to land what she needs to land or get you to the ground or do what she has to do to win and she did it again tonight.
"She has worked her way back to Ronda Rousey."
Tate has lost twice to Rousey already, dropping the Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Championship by armbar in the first round, and losing in the third by that same hold for the UFC title at UFC 168. However, she's won four straight fights since that second matchup, with the win over Eye following wins over Liz Carmouche, Rin Nakai, and Sara McMann.
Penick's Analysis: Given the fact that Rousey's cleared out most everyone else in the division, at least those who haven't fallen to someone else in the rankings already, a third fight with Tate can be sold. It's not a hugely intriguing bout, given how the first two fights went and the fact that, even in victory, Tate hasn't shown so much improvement that it will make people buy into her winning that fight. Still, with a lack of options and the UFC not inclined to give Cris Cyborg a shot without her making 135 lbs., Tate makes as much sense as anything else.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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