Miesha Tate to defend UFC Bantamweight Championship against Amanda Nunes at UFC 200

It was announced on last night's episode of UFC Tonight that Miesha Tate will make her first defense of the UFC Bantamweight Championship against Amanda Nunes at UFC 200 July 9 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Miesha appeared on the show to announce this. Amanda is from Salvador, Bahia, Brazil but she currently trains with former UFC fighter Mike Brown at American Top Team in Florida. Her record is 12-4. Amanda likes to finish fights in the first round. So I expect her to be very aggressive and try to finish. But if she is unable to do that, she could have problems getting through five rounds. She has problems getting through three rounds. In her last fight, Amanda easily won the first two rounds over Valentina Shevchenko but then ran out of gas in round three. She's had trouble with this for her entire career. And I know Brown has been working with her on her endurance. It's still a problem. When Miesha won the title from Holly Holm, she was behind on the judges scorecards after four rounds. She needed a finish and she got it. That's what Amanda is up against. So there has been a lot whining on Twitter that Ronda Rousey or Holly Holm didn't get this match. Ronda isn't expected to return until the fall so I don't know why anyone would expect her to get this fight. With Holly Holm, the likely answer is that UFC president Dana White wanted to stick it to her manager Lenny Fresquez. It's common knowledge that White hates him. I was not impressed with Holly's performance in that fight. She did the exact opposite of her sterling performance against Ronda. It makes me think she's a fluke. She has to prove that she's not a fluke. I think there is some concern that the fighter we saw that night is the real Holly Holm. A red flag should go up. It's a good reason not to give her a rematch.



EDIT:This afternoon Holly Holm's manager Lenny Fresquez told Rick Wright of the Albuquerque Journal. that the UFC gave Miesha Tate a choice of defending against Holly or Amanda Nunes and Miesha chose Amanda. In his words, Miesha chose "the weaker opponent". Of course he thinks Holly is a better fighter than Amanda. He's Holly's manager. But Amanda is probably more dangerous especially in the first round. She's more aggressive and better on the ground. But Amanda hasn't had high profile fights.



EDIT: Last night, Miesha Tate told Steven Marrocco of MMA Junkie that the UFC suggested Amanda Nunes over Holly Holm. That brings me back to my initial thought that Dana White was looking to stick it to Holly's manager Lenny Fresquez.