Miesha Tate Net Worth (2025)
Lifestyle | Bio | Facts [UPDATED]

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Miesha started her mixed martial arts career when she was still in school, as a wrestler. 

She became a mixed martial artist when a friend invited her to join a mixed martial arts club in their university. 

She came in and saw a bunch of wrestlers, just like her. From then on, Tate decided that it was the right place to be.

But there was hesitation. 

Aside from some grappling, mixed martial arts allow the participants to use strikes. 

Miesha wasn’t used to that as it isn’t allowed in wrestling. She also didn’t want to get punched. 

Who would have thought?

Miesha watched and observed her training partners fight – and soon, it encouraged her to fight in an actual competition, too.

In 2006, Miesha was only 20 years old when she began her MMA career fighting in an amateur bout with a Muay Thai specialist, Elizabeth Posener. 

Now here’s the kicker.

Miesha wrestled Elizabeth down to the ground and was able to hold her there, but once she had her opportunity to strike, the future UFC women’s bantamweight champion didn’t strike. 

Just imagine the reaction of her trainers!

The next round, Miesha was a bloody mess. She was able to evade submission but was still defeated due to the injuries she sustained. 

That’s when she also realized that MMA isn’t wrestling but a ‘real’ fight. 

Throughout her amateur mixed martial arts career, Miesha was able to amass a record of 5-1 before going pro. 

And it gets better.

Cupcake had her professional MMA debut at the one-night HOOKnSHOOT Women’s Grand Prix. 

Tate won and was able to defeat her first opponent but was knocked out later in the night. 

From then on, the mixed martial arts champion would go on to fight untelevised fights, and most didn’t even pay. 

As for this, Miesha shared that she had gone 1 year fighting mixed martial arts without getting paid and with only her passion to keep her afloat, as she stated in an interview. 

“When I first started doing this, this was not the cool thing to do. Women’s MMA was not cool. It was frowned upon. We made little to no money, pennies on the dollar, fighting for breadcrumbs but when you love something, you can’t put a price on that.”

Then finally…

…Tate was able to bag the title for the 135-pound FCF Women’s Bantamweight Championship against Liz Carreiro in April 2009. 

The next year, Cupcake was able to defend her title against Valerie Coolbaugh with an armbar during the first round 

Strikeforce Bantamweight Champion

Miesha debuted in Strikeforce, one of MMA’s promotional bases located in San Jose California in 2008. The Strikeforce bouts were being televised on Showtime and CBS

Cupcake first defeated Elaina Maxwell in a unanimous decision then went on to fight for the FCF women’s bantamweight champion title.

Tate returned to Strikeforce in 2009 only to be defeated by Sarah Kaufman. Then she went again to defend her FCF title. 

Yes, she was going back and forth between FCF and Strikeforce.

But that didn’t stop Miesha from achieving more.

In March 2010, the dark-haired mixed martial artist defeated Zoila Gurgel with an armbar in the second round.

Having fought several fights, Miesha Tate won Strikeforce’s Women’s Bantamweight Tournament by defeating Maiju Kujala and Hitomi Akano.

But that’s not even the best bit.

In 2011, Tate became more popular by defeating Marloes Coenen. 

Marloes Coenen is known for her jiu-jitsu pedigree and was generally feared because she’d never submitted in a fight.

But the pretty Cupcake wasn’t afraid to face her, saying “I’m going to try to kill her, I really am. I’m going to try to get to the point where the referee is fearful her (sic) life and stops the fight. That’s my goal.”

Badass!

Tate went home with the championship belt, contributing greatly to Miesha Tate net worth.

Then came her best-known rival Ronda Rousey.

Ronda debuted just earlier in 2011 but was confident she’d be able to defeat Tate.

And she wasn’t not without merit herself, with a perfect record of defeating all her opponents with her signature armbar.

On the other hand…

Tate believed that Ronda was only in it because of her pretty face. 

The fight was very much publicized with the two fighters trash-talking each other.

Tate and Rousey headlined the Strikeforce show which was also shown on Showtime. 

Unfortunately…

Miesha was able to prolong the fight but was later defeated with Ronda’s armbar.

Miesha was criticized by the media for risking getting long-term damage to her arm when she resisted Ronda’s armbar.

She lost her title to Ronda Rousey but she was able to defeat Julie Kedzie in her next fight.

UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion

In 2013, Tate officially joined the Ultimate Fighting Championship or UFC. 

Her UFC debut was a bout with Cat Zingano. 

UFC president Dana White commended the now UFC fighter for bringing women’s MMA to the limelight with the Tate and Ronda Rousey fight.

That same year, Ronda and Tate faced each other once again for another bout.

Tate was so close to winning, reaching the second round which only one other fighter was ever able to do with Ronda.

But again, she was defeated with the signature sidebar. 

Nevertheless…

…it only increased her popularity not only due to her exceptional finesse and art in with her ground moves but her graceful sportsmanship, as well. 

Rousey was booed by the audience as she took her championship belt.

She defeated two more opponents the next year and two more in 2015. 

The formerly undefeated Ronda was defeated by Holly Holm who, in turn, was defeated by Tate, making her the new UFC women’s bantamweight championship belt holder. 

After one last fight with Raquel Pennington, Tate announced her retirement.

Later in an interview, Miesha said that she did it to find herself and know what she really wanted in life. 

Miesha Tate Retirement

During her retirement, Tate announced that she’s in a relationship with fellow MMA fighter Johnny Nunez.

In 2018, she also joined ONE Championship to become its vice president up until 2021. She was based in Singapore with her family when the Coronavirus pandemic began and she had to return to the US.

And it didn’t end there.

One of the reasons she lost her high-paying vice president position was because she chose to fight again.

Yes, you’ve read that right.

Tate chose to be an MMA fighter once again and aim for the UFC Bantamweight champion belt once again in place of earning six-digit payments being a VP.

In July 2021, Tate returned to the octagon ring, knocking out Marion Reneau.

How Tall Is Miesha Tate?

Meisha is 5 ft 6 in or 1.68 m or 168cm tall, which is exactly the average height for women MMA fighters. 

How Old Is Miesha Tate?

Tate is 38 years old. She was born in Tacoma, Washington, United States.