Miesha Tate Says She’s Right Where She Wants To Be Ahead Of Vegas Fight

Miesha Tate has seen her fair share of ups and downs within her career, taking both wins and losses with ease and battling her way to the top for a brutal, shocking victory over Holly Holm at UFC 196 in March. Now–with rumors flying around the Web that she’ll take on Ronda Rousey for a third time to try to avenge her previous two losses–the MMA fighter says she feels like she’s right where she wants to be.

“I feel like that’s why I’m here today. There’s been a lot of up. There’s been a lot of down, but I feel like everything has forced me to be stronger for where I am today. If it wasn’t for the bumps in the road, and if it wasn’t for those hard times… all of those things made me stronger…I’ve really enjoyed this whole process. I feel like I’m right where I want to be. I’m just soaking it all in. It hasn’t been too much. My management has done such a beautiful job in helping me manage everything, and make sure that nothing is overwhelming. It’s been really running smoothly. I’m enjoying it,” Miesha told the media during a recent interview.

With her next big fight around the corner–Tate will take on Amanda Nunes on July 9 in Vegas–she says that her main priority is to stay focused, which is difficult not only because of all her obligations outside the UFC but because all anyone wants to talk about is Ronda Rousey and when the two of them will fight again. If it’s not a question about Ronda, it’s about Holly Holm, and Miesha says she’s very frustrated with the media lately because of it.

“I’ll politely ask not to talk about Ronda because I’m not fighting Ronda and we don’t know what’s going on with her, but they will anyways and then they caption that one section if I politely answer something. All the articles are about me and Ronda and it’s quite misleading that I’m focused on her because I’m not. I’m really trying to stay focused on Amanda. That’s the biggest battle I’ve really had to fight is with the media. That’s been the biggest frustration,” Miesha told Fox Sports.

Miesha recently sat down with Conan O’Brien to talk about the coming weeks, and when he brought up the fact that the UFC has been hinting that Tate and Rousey will go head-to-head again if she beats Nunes, she said she has to focus on the moment and not let herself get overwhelmed.

“Right now I’m trying to really stay focused on Amanda, and I know everyone’s so excited for that Rousey fight and I hope that’s something that happens, but if I don’t beat Amanda, you know…there’s no next,” Tate told Conan.

Miesha Tate also recently talked about how those other obligations–such as promotions and appearances in films, which is something Ronda Rousey has been doing as well–and said that she can’t let those things get in the way.

“The thing is that you have to keep your eye on the task at hand and the prize at hand. What do you really want? That’s the question I have to ask myself. What do I really want? And to me the most important thing is to defend my belt. It’s not making movies, it’s not anything else. If those things can fall into place at a time when it makes sense, great. But in the middle of my training camp or anything that’s gonna affect that at all? You’ve just gotta tell them no. If those opportunities are there now, they’ll surely be there after I defend the belt successfully again. That’s the way I kind of look at it,” Miesha Tate told MMA Fighting.

[Photo by Atsushi Tomura/Stringer/Getty Images]