Miesha Tate

Miesha Tate, known to fans as "Cupcake," is an American mixed martial artist who competed in the UFC women's bantamweight division and is a former UFC women's bantamweight champion.

Born and raised in Tacoma, Washington, Tate wrestled on the boys' team at Franklin Pierce High School before winning a state wrestling championship as a senior. She turned professional in mixed martial arts in 2007 and later joined the Xtreme Couture team in Las Vegas, where she developed the well-rounded skill set that carried her through more than a decade of competition at the sport's highest level.

Tate's amateur wrestling pedigree became the foundation of her fighting style. She built her game around takedowns, top-position control, and relentless forward pressure, later developing a dangerous submission arsenal to complement her grappling base. That combination of physical strength, technical wrestling, and finishing instinct made her one of the most dangerous grapplers in women's MMA.

Tate's career highlights include winning the Strikeforce women's bantamweight championship in 2011 by submitting Marloes Coenen, a victory that established her as one of that promotion's marquee stars. She also coached opposite Ronda Rousey on The Ultimate Fighter, part of a rivalry that included two title-fight losses to Rousey. The signature moment of her career came at UFC 196 in March 2016, when she submitted Holly Holm with a fifth-round rear-naked choke to capture the UFC women's bantamweight championship, one of the most dramatic finishes in the promotion's history.

Alongside contemporaries such as Rousey and Holm, Tate is remembered as a foundational figure in the rise of women's mixed martial arts, helping build and legitimize the sport's women's divisions during their formative years in Strikeforce and the UFC.