Last month, Miesha Tate shocked the world when she unexpectedly announced her return to fighting. Tate has not competed since a 2016 loss to Raquel Pennington, but after taking some years off from the sport, “Cupcake” said the sport was calling to her and so now she will face Marion Reneau at a UFC Fight Night on July 17. And once her comeback is complete, Tate says she’s looking to reclaim the UFC bantamweight title, and hopefully avenge a few losses along the way.

Speaking on SiriusXM’s Fight Nation, the former UFC bantamweight champion discussed her top-three fantasy opponents after her fight with Reneau and if she had her druthers, Tate would be going on a revenge tour.

“Ronda (Rousey) first, Cat (Zingano) second, and Holly (Holm) third,” Tate said. “Holly, I already beat her so, you know, she wants a rematch at me more but definitely Ronda would be prime. That would be first for sure and Cat’s a close second.”

Tate has also spoken about wanting to rematch current champion Amanda Nunes but it’s clear that her pair of losses to Rousey don’t sit well with the former champion. Tate and Rousey had a heated rivalry in the early 2010s, dating back to their days in Strikeforce when Tate was the champion and Rousey was becoming a star. Tate lost their first fight, and the Strikeforce title, by first-round armbar but was then given a chance for revenge just a year later when the UFC absorbed Strikeforce and had Tate and Rousey serve as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter. Though Tate’s fighters ended up winning both tournaments, Tate herself lost the rematch, this time by third-round armbar. However, Tate is adamant that if she got one more crack at Rousey, this time things would be different.

“There’s not a doubt in my mind it would be different, for sure,” Tate said. “I’m just so different myself. I don’t know how to explain, I just want you guys to see it on July 17. Just things that I didn’t realize and I didn’t compute before as a fighter that I feel like I’m finally picking up at this stage in my life. I don’t know, call it maturity, call it maybe sitting back observing this sport and watching and not being under the pressure to compete all the time has allowed me to kind of look at this in a more cerebral way.

“I used to be very much a brawler and tough. I still have the mental toughness, I still have the fight but I feel like for the first time I’m tapping into my fight IQ and really going to go about things in a different way than I did before, at least to start fights. Fights are fights, right? It’s liable to get crazy at any point but I’m much different than I ever was before.”

Unfortunately for Tate, that third opportunity doesn’t seem all that likely. Rousey retired from MMA just one month after Tate did following her own loss to Amanda Nunes. Since then, Rousey has transitioned to professional wrestling and has shown little interest in a return to non-scripted combat. And with Cat Zingano now fighting for Bellator MMA, it seems that most of Tate’s hit list is beyond her reach right now. Fortunately for the former champion, she doesn’t think she’ll have any shortage of opportunities after she beats Reneau.

“I will be the second-most hunted woman in the division, I feel like that for sure,” Tate concluded. “The champion will be number one but it seems like women are always interested in fighting me.”

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TOP STORIES

King. Demetrious Johnson still supports knees to the head of grounded fighters despite KO loss to Adriano Moraes: ‘I like these rules.’

Reversal. Eddie Alvarez calls for ONE Championship to reverse DQ loss: ‘What happened, it’s just not right … I won.’

Confidence. Jon Jones confident Francis Ngannou fight will happen sooner or later: ‘I think the UFC eventually will do the right thing’.

Gamebred. Jorge Masvidal open to future matchup with Leon Edwards: ‘Win a fight and I’ll be here.’

Dichotomy. Georges St-Pierre: An MMA gym is the happiest and saddest place for me.

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VIDEO STEW

Between the Links.

Bellator weigh-ins.

Best finishes from this weekend’s fighters.

BTS with the PFL bubble.

GSP on GQ talking MMA scenes in movies.

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LISTEN UP

Heavy Hands. Discussing the most notable fights at UFC on ABC 2.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Damn.

Best friends.

Beef.

Other beef.

Covid.

Poirier sharing Dosbrak’s work.

Well done.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Valerie Loureda (3-0) vs. Hannah Guy (2-1); Bellator 258, May 7.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Fight Circus has been postponed and now we have nothing to look forward to. This sucks.

Thanks for reading, enjoy the fights and see y’all on Monday.

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EXIT POLL

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If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let him know about it. Also follow MMAFighting on Instagram and like us on Facebook.