UFC Des Moines Preview and Prediction: Miesha Tate
In the featured prelim at UFC Des Moines, we are going to see the return of a former world champion. Former bantamweight champion Miesha Tate (20-9) is back as she takes on 10th ranked Yana Santos (15-8).
Starting with Santos, she will be looking for her second straight win. The last time we saw her was last August when she defeated Chelsea Chandler. That win snapped a three-fight losing streak for Santos. Santos made her octagon debut back in 2018 against Cris Cyborg when she was an Invicta champion. After going 4-2 in her first six fights, she's just 1-3 since.
Advertisement
She'll be taking on former champion Miesha Tate. After Tate lost to Raquel Pennington in November 2016, she retired from the sport and focused on her family. Tate ultimately decided to return back in 2021 and won her first fight. She faced Ketlen Vieira in her next fight and had she won, she probably would've gotten a title shot.
However, she lost and then she decided to move down to flyweight for one fight. Tate lost to Lauren Murphy and then she moved back up to bantamweight. She faced Julia Avila in December 2023 in her last fight and the former UFC champion scored a second round submission. She's hoping that with a win over Santos tomorrow night, she'll only be a win or two away from another title shot.
UFC Des Moines Prediction
This fight is ultimately going to come down to takedowns. Yana Santos is a good striker and Miesha Tate can hold her own on the feet. However, we know what Miesha Tate's game plan is. She's going to look to close the distance and she's going to look for takedowns.
Advertisement
Tate has really good ground control and I think that if she gets the fight there, she'll be able to keep it there for extended periods of time. With that, I think she's only two takedowns away from winning a decision in this fight. I expect Santos to land the better shots on the feet, but I think I'm more comfortable picking Miesha Tate at UFC Des Moines. I think she'll be able to gain control of at least two rounds and she'll be able to get a decision here.
Prediction: Miesha Tate by Decision
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Patchy Mix predicts rebound after upset loss to Mario Bautista in debut at UFC 316
Patchy Mix predicts rebound after upset loss to Mario Bautista in debut at UFC 316 Patchy Mix experienced what many other first-time UFC fighters go through Saturday. After UFC 316, the former Bellator bantamweight champion acknowledged the disappointment and said he'll rebound. Mix (20-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) made his highly anticipated promotional debut at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., as a betting favorite against Mario Bautista (16-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC), but never seemed to get started in a unanimous decision loss (30-27, 30-27, 29-28). "Tough night for me in the office," Mix posted on Facebook. "But I appreciate the people that have supported and been along for the ride. Would have liked to do more and made adjustments. I will come back stronger from this moment." Bautista outstruck Mix every round and won his eighth straight fight. The victory is on the heels of a decision win over former featherweight champion Jose Aldo. Mix, whose fiancee is recent UFC women's flyweight title challenger Tatiana Suarez, had not fought in a little more than a year after an unceremonious exit from the PFL after it bought Bellator and folded the promotion. Mix was about a 2-1 betting favorite in the fight, and the consensus was that he would beat Bautista and might even find himself promptly in the bantamweight title picture. In fact, his manager predicted that might be the case with a win. In the MMA Junkie reader predictions, Mix got nearly 80 percent of the vote, and he was a unanimous pick from MMA Junkie's 11 staff members. The 31-year-old Las Vegas-based Mix hadn't lost since 2020, when he was upset by Juan Archuleta in Bellator's bantamweight tournament. But less than three years later, he won Bellator's belt and a $1 million prize against Raufeon Stots, then had title defenses against Sergio Pettis and Magomed Magomedov before he arrived in the UFC.
Forbes
2 hours ago
- Forbes
Kayla Harrison On UFC 316 Weight Cut: ‘I Wanted To Quit'
The way Kayla Harrison told it, there almost wasn't a women's bantamweight title fight between herself and Julianna Pena last night at UFC 316. 'I'll tell you what, on Thursday night, I wanted to quit,' Harrison told UFC commentator Joe Rogan during her in-cage post-fight interview. 'I wanted to give up, but there's a small voice inside of you that will tell you 'don't give up.' So, don't give up.' Rogan later asked Harrison if she was referring to her weight cut to make 135 pounds for the first time in her professional career. 'Only God can get that last pound off me,' said Harrison. 'I can't do it. I'm not strong enough. It's too hard. You gotta go to a bad place, and the only way through is to surrender and have faith.' Harrison looked rough when she hit the 135-pound limit on Friday morning at the Regency Hotel in Newark. Her cheeks were sunken, her eyes hollow, and her body looked stripped of every ounce of fat and excess water. By the time the ceremonial weigh-ins took place later that night at the Prudential Center, Harrison looked much better, having had a few hours to rehydrate. By the time fight night rolled around, Harrison had filled out and appeared to have rehydrated to a weight that would allow her to perform close to the best of her abilities. Harrison has been a high-level athlete for a long while. A gold-medal winner in judo at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games at -78 kg (172 pounds), Harrison spent the first four years of her MMA career competing at 155 pounds, with one fight at 145 and one bout at 150. When the former PFL lightweight champ signed with the UFC, there were some concerns about how she would deal with the bantamweight limit. In her first two UFC bouts, Harrison checked in at 136. As those fights were not for UFC gold, Harrison and her opponents in those contests, where Harrison picked up wins over Holly Holm (UFC 300) and Ketlen Vieira (UFC 307), were given the luxury of a one-pound allowance. Harrison earned a relatively easy submission win over the overmatched Pena to capture the UFC women's bantamweight title. She limited Pena to nine landed significant strikes on 37 attempts while forcing Pena to fight from her back foot for nearly the entire fight. Pena's fear of the grappling game of her opponent left her on defense. Those fears were warranted because Harrison, who went two-for-three on takedowns, had no trouble controlling Pena on the mat, eventually forcing her to submit with five seconds left in the third round after she applied a kimura that looked like it would surely break Pena's arm if she had not tapped. The big news came in the aftermath of the win when former two-division UFC champ (bantamweight and featherweight) Amanda Nunes announced she was coming out of retirement to face Harrison for the title. Nunes retired in June 2023 after defending the 135-pound title with a win over Irene Aldana to care for her growing family. With her children being a little older and things around the household more calm, the 37-year-old entered the Octagon on Saturday night to let everyone know that she would face Harrison in the future. The main card for UFC 316 streamed on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN and UFC Fight Pass. With her win over Julianna Pena at UFC 316, Harrison moved to 19-1 overall and 3-0 in the UFC.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Jones 'agreed' to fight Aspinall
Jon Jones has 28 wins in 30 MMA fights, having made his debut in 2008 [Getty Images] UFC president Dana White says he cannot stop Jon Jones from retiring, despite the American having "agreed" to fight Tom Aspinall. White was responding to the social media activity of the UFC heavyweight champion, who suggested he was retired before calling out ex-UFC fighter Francis Ngannou. Advertisement Speaking at the UFC 316 post-fight news conference, White said 37-year-old Jones had said nothing about retiring to him and that he was only interested in matching him with Aspinall. "Tom Aspinall is the guy. If the guy wants to retire and doesn't want to fight, there's nothing you can do," White said. "I didn't want Khabib [Nurmagomedov] to retire, I thought [Daniel Cormier] should've stayed in it longer, so it's none of my business. "I'll do what I can to make the fight, if we can, if he's talking that crazy, I didn't realise that." With Ngannou fuelling speculation he might be open to a return to the UFC, White played down the chances even if it was to fight Jones. Advertisement "It's Aspinall's fight," White said. [BBC] Aspinall, 32, has been the interim champion for 18 months and has publicly said he believes Jones is retired. White has been insisting since last November, when Jones last fought, the bout with Aspinall would happen next and clarified that - while Jones had agreed to the fight - he had not signed a contract. "John agreed to fight Tom," he said. "Jon Jones agreed to do the fight. Jon Jones was offered the deal and accepted the deal." More MMA from the BBC
