Miesha Tate details being in ‘a dark place’ after Raquel Pennington loss

Miesha Tate is officially returning to the Octagon this summer. In doing so, she’ll look to truly finish her career on a better note than how it appeared to have concluded in 2016.

Reflecting back on her last time out, Tate (18-7) shared on Wednesday how she just wasn’t in the best of headspaces at the time.

"I was struggling mentally and emotionally and I was in a very dark place and I needed to take time away. I needed to take time away from everything."@MieshaTate opened up about her decision to walk away from the sport in 2016. (via @arielhelwani) pic.twitter.com/IIaNdvWGEe

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) March 31, 2021

“You have to give everything to this sport,” Tate told ESPN. “You have to give as much as you can and when you have something taking away from it, something that’s mentally and emotionally exhausting you, there comes a point where you just have nothing left and that’s where I found myself with Raquel [Pennington].

“I just wasn’t able to engage in that fight the way that I wanted to. That was very depressing, it was really depressing. I was struggling mentally and emotionally, and I was in a very dark place. I needed to take time away. I needed to take time away from everything, I needed to separate myself from all the things that were taking away from myself, and answer questions and get out of that dark space. So I did that.”

At UFC 205 in November 2016, Tate went toe to toe with perennial bantamweight contender Raquel Pennington. Acquainted from their time together on season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter, the then coach in Tate wound up falling short against her temporary student.

After dropping her UFC title to Amanda Nunes at UFC 200 just a handful of months prior, Tate suffered a unanimous decision loss to Pennington. Therefore leading to a surprise retirement not only for the viewers, but Tate herself.

During “Cupcake’s” retirement she would relocate to Singapore and go on to work as a Vice President for ONE Championship. She also became a mother alongside her partner and fellow fighter, Johnny Nunez, as the pair now has two children together.

On the July 17 UFC fight night event, Miesha Tate returns to action when she faces the No. 12 ranked bantamweight, Marion Reneau. The fight is expected to be Reneau’s last of her 17-fight 11-year career