Miesha Tate, left, and Amanda Nunes pose for photographers during a UFC 200 mixed martial arts news conference, Wednesday, July 6, 2016, in Las Vegas.
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Nunes was the fourth-ranked bantamweight before Saturday.
Saturday’s main event at UFC 200 could go a long way toward changing that.
This time he backed Tate once more, telling LV Sports Network that he placed the biggest wager in his life on Tate defending her title, betting $1m on “Cupcake” to defeat Amanda Nunes. Prelims will be shown on UFC Fight Pass and FS1.
Daniel Cormier took on Anderson Silva, a last-minute replacement for Jon Jones after the former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones tested positive for a drug test taken in June. So it’s safe to say this fight won’t be the walk in the park for Tate.
“When I saw that she was hurt, I controlled myself”, Nunes said.
With seven minutes before the 10 a.m. deadline, three fighters had yet to show up for the weigh-ins – including women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate.
Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar fought for the interim featherweight title, with the official champion Conor McGregor more content on plotting revenge on Nate Diaz and possibly a lightweight title bout assuming he comes out of UFC 202 with a win.
She also hopes for a third fight with Rousey, who hasn’t fought since losing in November and shows little indication that she’s hungry to get back on the MMA grind.
The 29-year-old Tate has certainly had to earn her place at the top of the pile the hard way.
UFC 200 will be broadcasted live through UFC Fight Pass.
Upon the removal of Jones from the card, the UFC’s immediate action was to upgrade the heavyweight showdown between WWE superstar Brock Lesnar and Mark Hunt into the headliner spot from the co-main event slot.
Lesnar made a UFC-record $2.5 million guaranteed purse for his first bout since late 2011, returning to the sport where he won and lost the heavyweight title during a meteoric MMA career. I promise I will come back stronger from this.
Having been stopped by McGregor in just 13 seconds last December, the fleet-footed Aldo put on a clinical display of counter-punching to outpoint the aggressive but ineffective Edgar to claim the interim title. Tate’s stay-back approach from the Holm fight differed markedly from her style against Nunes, although to be fair after the way she got hit the fight was going to be over sooner than later. Cormier won by unanimous decision: 30-26 on all three judges’ cards.
In the other heavyweight bout on the card, Cain Velasquez scored a TKO victory over Travis Brown, the referee calling a halt with just three seconds left in the first round.
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The UFC is doing its part to support the LGBTQ community as well with the new “We Are All Fighters” t-shirts just printed. “I want to fight the best guys”.
