Yahoo Sports UFC on FOX 16 Results: Miesha Tate Bests Jessica Eye for Another Title Shot
Miesha Tate and Jessica Eye entered Saturday night’s UFC on FOX 16 co-main event in Chicago knowing that everything was on the line. Everything being a shot at current UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, should she gets past Bethe Correia at UFC 190 next week.
Tate entered the bout having won her three most recent fight, having failed to take the belt from Rousey in the fight prior to the streak. Eye was 1-1 with 1 no contest in the UFC entering this fight, but defeating Tate would allow her to jump the line to a title shot.
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Eye ran away with the fight… for the first three minutes. She was more fluid, using good head movement and footwork to set up a strong jab, outstriking Tate in the opening minutes.
But that’s when everything changed. Tate ate a right hand from Eye that served to wake her up, and then it was her fight from then on. She staggered Eye with a right hand and then another one sent Eye to the canvas, where Tate followed her down and landed several elbows to the head and hammerfists to the body.
That seemed to take a lot of the sting out of Eye’s stand-up attack and put a lot of snap into Tate’s.
Looking much more confident to start round two, Tate rocked Eye again and then rushed her with a flurry of punches that sent her to the mat once more. Tate got caught briefly in a triangle, but slipped it and did a lot of damage with some severe elbows to the ribs.
By round three, Eye had abandoned all of the fluidity and head movement that she had showed in the opening frame. Tate controlled the pace for the final frame, although she didn’t mount much more damage.
At the end of three rounds, it was more than enough for Tate to win a unanimous decision on the judges scorecards, potentially setting up a third fight with Rousey, if the champ gets past Correia on Aug. 1 in Brazil.
