Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Meisha Tate is all set to make his first appearance inside the Octagon in years, as he’s coming out of retirement to give herself another shot at winning a title. She’ll be facing Marion Reneau, who just wants to punctuate her MMA-fighting career with a victory. Check out our preview of this fight below.
Tate is coming back to prove she still has enough gas in her tank to be a force in the division. She won the women’s bantamweight title in 2016 by defeating Holly Holm via a rear-naked choke. That win also earned her Performance of the Night honors. She was not able to hold on to the title for long, as she lost it to Amanda Nunes months later when she got submitted in the first round of their fight. With this fight against Reneau, Tate is hopeful that she and Nunes will cross paths again in the future and avenge that defeat. The last time Tate fought in the Octagon, she got dominated in a three-round fight by Raquel Pennington. Her hiatus from mixed-martial arts might affect her performance on Saturday, but what’s certain is that Tate’s body is well-rested. Tate is a talented Brazilian jiu-jitsu artist with good wrestling and defense against submissions. In her UFC career thus far, Tate is averaging 2.06 takedowns and 1.6 submissions per 15 minutes.
Reneau just wants a win. It’s been over three years since she last tasted a victory, which was when he submitted Sara McMann way back in February 2018. Since then, Reneau has suffered four defeats in a row, all via way of unanimous decisions. The last time she stepped inside the Octagon, Reneau suffered a loss at the hands of Macy Chiasson in March 2021. This will be Reneau’s last fight, so expect the 44-year-old to come out with all guns blazing. Although wins have been hard to come by for Reneau, she’s at least a more active fighter of late than Tate, so there should be more adjustments on the side of the latter when it comes to the atmosphere this coming Saturday. Reneau has also recorded four takedowns against two allowed over his last couple of fights, though she’ll have to be extra careful when trying to bring the fight to the mat against Tate. One of Reneau’s best wins in her career was when she submitted former UFC champion Jessica Andrade back in 2015.
