Miesha Tate

Miesha Tate is a professional female mixed martial artist.

Miesha, 5-foot-6 Tate (13-3), of Tacoma, Wash., is known for her superior skills, athleticism and determination. On March 26, 2010, she by submitting previously unbeaten Zoila "The Warrior Princess" Frausto with a textbook armbar in the second round (4:09) of a hard-fought bout. Tate then won the women's welterweight tournament by defeating Maiju Kujala and Hitomi Akano in a one night single elimination tournament, earning a guaranteed title shot against Marloes Coenen.

As a teenager, Tate joined her high school boys' wrestling team in order to compete in a fast-paced, aggressive sport. She was introduced to MMA by a friend in college and, soon thereafter, her desire to challenge herself led to the birth of a professional career.

Tate wrestled on the boys' wrestling team throughout high school. In 2005, she won the high school women's state championship. She also won the coaches award her senior year despite being the only female on the team.

Soon after, Tate joined a mixed martial arts sport club at Central Washington University that was run by her current boyfriend and trainer, Bryan Caraway.

Tate debuted in mixed martial arts in 2007 at the one-night HOOKnSHOOT Women's Grand Prix. She defeated Jan Finney in by a decision after not three but 4 rounds of grueling battle. Tate fought again 30 minutes later only to get knocked out by a head kick from eventual tournament champion Kaitlin Young.

On June 27, 2008, Tate faced Cung Le protege Elaina Maxwell at Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Thomson. Tate moved up in weight for the fight and defeated Maxwell by Unanimous Decision.

Tate won three more times and captured the FCF Women's Bantamweight Championship by defeating Liz Carreiro at Freestyle Cage Fighting on April 4, 2009.

She returned to Strikeforce at ShoMMA 1: Evangelista vs. Aina on May 15, 2009. Tate was originally scheduled to face Kim Couture, but Couture withdrew from the fight due to undisclosed reasons and Tate was matched up against undefeated Canadian Sarah Kaufman instead. In a competitive fight, Tate was defeated by Unanimous Decision which snapped her 6 fight win streak, but it marked the first time that Kaufman had gone to a decision.

Tate knocked out Sarah Oriza eight seconds into the second round at a CageSport MMA event on October 3, 2009.

She successfully defended her FCF title by defeating Valerie Coolbaugh in the first round by armbar at FCF 38 on January 16, 2010.

Tate faced Zoila Frausto at ShoMMA 7: Johnson vs. Mahe on March 26, 2010. Tate won the fight by armbar submission in the second round.

Tate was scheduled to be part of the one-night Strikeforce 135-pound women's tournament on August 13, 2010 at ShoMMA 10: Riggs vs. Taylor. A random drawing was held on the day of the weigh-ins to determine first-round matchups and Tate faced Maiju Kujala in the opening round of the tournament.

Tate defeated Kujala by Unanimous Decision after two rounds to advance to the tournament final, then defeated Hitomi Akano by Unanimous Decision after three rounds to become Strikeforce Women's Welterweight Tournament Champion.

After earning her #1 contender spot Tate fought Marloes Coenan July 31, 2011. She defeated Coenan in the 4th round with an arm triangle submission to capture the 135lb Strikeforce Women's World Title.

Tate then took on Ronda Rousey on March 3, 2012 in the highly anticipated match-up. She lost the fight near the closing seconds of round one via armbar.

Most recently, she defeated Julie Kedzie with an armbar of her own in the 3rd round in one of the most epic battles that women's mixed martial arts has ever seen.

She is now a part of the Ultimate Fighting Championship's women's division.