Strikeforce Challengers: the Rise of Miesha Tate

It’s easy to fall for Miesha Tate. She’s beautiful, intelligent, and incredibly down to earth.

However, those wouldn’t be the only reasons that you would fall for Miesha. It could just from her living up to her nickname of “Takedown” if you should be crazy enough to grapple with her.

I had the distinct honor of speaking with Ms.Tate recently as she prepares to engage in a four woman, one night tournament Friday night on Strikeforce Challengers. The winner of this tournament earns themselves a title shot for the 135lb title.

In our conversation, I learned that Tate is more than just a pretty face, she’s a woman on a mission.

B/R: Many people who are just learning about you would be surprised to learn that you actually wrestled on the boys team in high school. What drew you to wrestling?

MT:  Honestly nothing drew me to wrestling. Nobody wrestled in my family, not even the guys. I just fell into it. After cross country season was over, my best friend asked me if I wanted to go out for wrestling with her during English class one day.

B/R: What were the initial challenges?

MT: It was weird at first, since we were the only girls but  we really proved them (the boys) wrong though, cause we came there and worked hard. We never really dressed girly. Nothing form fitting. We didn't wanna be there to look cute or hot, which made it easier.                                                                                                                             

B/R: Tell me about your transition to MMA.

MT: My neighbor in college told me about an MMA Club Sport. It was surprising. I was used to it (the training) from wrestling so I kind of just found myself right at home and started learning things like Armbars, and Triangles, and how to choke people out, so I just thought it was really cool. 

I never thought that I would wanna do any kind of contact. I was like well you know I could definitely do grappling tournaments and learning jiu jitsu and submissions. That was my typical girl reaction.

Then I went to my first fight card with the guys that I’d been training with and half of those guys were fighting and I was like wow that is so beautiful and amazing what they’re doing out there. I could see their passion and I was just like man... I really wanna do that. After the fight card, the referee announced that three weeks later there was going to be a female fight card, so three weeks later I was fighting.

B/R: How did your family react to your decision?

MT: They thought I was crazy . My mom has always been more supportive even though it’s nerve racking to her, and it’s not that my dad’s not supportive, it’s just that it’s really, really hard for him cause it’s daddy’s little girl. He gets sicker than I do when I have fight coming up. Now they see it as a competitive sport that makes me happy.

B/R: Over the past year, you’ve grown in popularity mainly due to a combination of your exceptional skill and your looks. How have you learned to adjust to the attention?

MT: Well one part is better time management. Cause I’m really not that great at it.  I used to be terrible. I use my phone’s calendar a lot more cause I just got a lot more going on.  It’s all really about time management. There’s more interaction, but I really like that. I really like to talk to my fans. I feel that without them, where would I be?

B/R: Your boyfriend, Bryan Caraway, who is also a fighter , serves as your corner man for your fights. How helpful has it been for you as a fighter to have someone so close to you that can relate to what you’re going through?

MT: It’s definitely a unique bond, that’s for sure. I don’t think that i could have it any other way cause I’m just so used to it and i’ve really grown to appreciate it.

The negative part is that most fighters are very stubborn people and I think it’s cause we  we have to be, otherwise how can you be successful in the sport if you’re ok with losing? You have to be persistent and stubborn, so sometimes we really butt heads. We have to pick our battles, and that’s how we make the relationship work.

The good part of it is that we understand each other. We don’t have to explain. I feel like most guys who are fighters have girlfriends who cant or don't understand what they go through. But then how can they? They don’t know what it’s like. Having that understanding, it really helps a lot.


B/R: Let’s talk about your big match up this Friday. In a one night, four woman tournament,  how are you preparing for fighting two times in the same night?

MT: Well I started my career of with a tournament, and I made alot of mistakes. one of those was cutting too much weight. This time going into the tournament, I’m just mentally alot more sound and prepared. You need to keep the engine running or idling. Just stay warm and in the same mind frame.

I’ve just been training really hard. A lot of cardio, alot of sparring, a lot of grappling and putting together game plans for each girl cause I don’t know who I’m fighting first. It’s a long process.


B/R: By winning the tournament tomorrow night, you place yourself in a perfect position to not only fight for the title, but also avenge your loss against Sara Kaufman. How anxious are you to get a rematch with her?

MT: I wanted to fight Sarah Kaufman since the minute our fight ended last year. I definitely want to take the steps that are appropriate for me to deserve a rematch because she’s been going out there and winning impressively and beating the top girls in the world so I don’t think that I should immediately get a rematch. I think that I definitely should prove that I have improved enough that I’m a completely different fighter.

B/R: What would you do differently in a rematch?

MT: I would train more specifically for her, because what happened last time was that I was supposed to fight Kim Couture and then she pulled out three weeks before the fight and that threw me emotionally for a loop. Then two weeks out from the fight they let me know that I’m gonna fight Sara Kaufman which was quite a jump in the talent pool. I think I had too much respect for her when I went in there. The thing that I learned was confidence. The training camp would much more specific. I moved to Sacramento, California and I’m training at Uriah’s (Faber) and they’re so awesome because they not only promote the physical side but emotionally and spiritually they show you that you need to mentally sound, physically sound, and emotionally sound. They make you feel like you can beat anyone.  

B/R: Where do you see Women’s MMA going over the next few years?

MT: I just think it’s gonna get bigger and better. We’re still evolving alot. Alot of people still try to compare us to the men’s MMA and I think that it’s not so much male and female, it’s just that the men have had more time doing it. You think of the Chael Sonnen’s and the Anderson Silva’s and they are the best in the sport. When you think about the top women in the sport, they’ve only been training for about five years. When you think about it in that light, we’re doing pretty well.  

B/R: In a recent mini documentary on Fighter Dolls, you mentioned that you would eventually like to manage women fighters once you’ve retired. Do you have goals of one day becoming the first female mogul of MMA?

MT: MMA for anyone is a relatively short lived career. I love MMA so much, but realize that I’m not gonna be a competitor in it forever but I wanna still be a part of it by helping other women navigate through a little easier. I like seeing other women succeed cause we’re all in this together.


B/R: Thank you for your time Miesha. Good luck Friday night.

MT: I would like to thank my sponsors: Cage Candy, Caged Steel, Tussle, 5 Star Clothing and Cage Hero.

Keep an eye out for Cage Hero. I am the only female that they have sponsored right now and they made a character which is based on me that you can see on my walkout T-Shirt.