Miesha Tate appears during a media availability for UFC 200 at Madison Square Garden. (Photo : Getty Images/Jeff Zelevansky)
Miesha Tate will defend her UFC women's bantamweight championship for the first time against Amanda Nunes at UFC 200. However, Tate is already looking past Nunes and is hoping to fight Ronda Rousey at Madison Square Garden.
Tate vs. Nunes is the third-billed fight of the UFC 200 card following Daniel Cormier vs. Jon Jones 2 and Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar 2. During the event's press conference on April 27, Wednesday the reigning women's bantamweight champion predicted his future.
"I told everybody I was going to beat Holly (Holm), and I did, and I'm meant to be here. I'm going to beat Amanda on the 9th, and I'm going to go on and hopefully after that, we'll see Ronda in Madison Square Garden. That would be great," Tate said via MMA Junkie.
The 29-year-old fighter defeated Holly Holm via a fifth-round rear-naked choke submission at UFC 196. She has won five-straight fights with her last loss coming against Rousey in December 2013. She also lost to Rowdy in their first fight in March 2012.
However, Nunes is not going down without a fight saying that she will defeat Tate and show everybody what she can do. The 27-year-old Brazilian has won five out of his last six fights. Her last loss came against Cat Zingano who defeated her via a third-round knockout on September 2014 at UFC 178.
According to FOX Sports, UFC president Dana White confirmed that Rousey will be making her return to the Octagon later in the year. White guaranteed that Rowdy's first fight back will be against whoever is the women's bantamweight champion.
The UFC president added Rousey will possibly fight at UFC 205 in Madison Square Garden on November 12. It will be the first UFC event in the state of New York since 1997 after Governor Andrew Cuomo finally signed a bill legalizing mixed martial arts in the state.
Nonetheless, the women's bantamweight division is very stacked at the moment. Nunes could very well step into the spotlight if she defeats Tate. Holly Holm is still looking for a chance to reclaim her belt and Cyborg Justino just signed with the UFC.
There are a lot of possible matches to make for UFC 205 regarding Rousey's return fight. Many fans would like to see the how the former undisputed women's champion bounce back after a vicious head kick knockout loss to Holm in November 2015.
Check the video below for some of the highlights from Rousey vs. Tate 2 at UFC 168.
