Miesha Tate, a former UFC champion, is setting her sights high for 2025. After a strong return to the octagon, she’s mapping out a fast track to the bantamweight title, starting with her next fight against Yana Santos on May 3, 2025, at a UFC Fight Night event. In a recent chat, Tate laid out her dream year, hoping to notch two wins and earn a shot at the belt. She’s driven to make it happen quickly, feeling her time in the sport is short but packed with potential.
Tate’s ideal plan is clear.
“An ideal year is win this fight, win another fight and be calling for a title shot,” she told MMA Fighting. “I want that turnover as quickly as possible because I feel like I’m here for a good time, not for a long time so I’m trying to make it happen in this year. We’ll see what happens. This is my year I feel like to either make it happen or not.”
She’s all in, pushing to seize her moment in 2025.
What Miesha Tate Wants for Her UFC Future
But there’s a twist. Tate’s close friend Julianna Peña, a former champ herself, stands in the title picture. Tate hopes to avoid facing her.
“I ideally don’t want to have to fight Julie for a title because we are friends and we have a long history and I have so much respect and love for her,” she said.
Peña helped Tate early in her career, always stepping up as a training partner. Tate’s torn, she wants Peña to beat Kayla Harrison in their upcoming fight, but a title shot might force her to face her friend. She’s leaving it up to fate.
If it comes down to it, though, Tate won’t back down.
“I was like look I will never hold that away from you,” Tate said about her conversation with Peña back then.
“I will never turn you away or be like ‘hey, you can’t have a shot at my belt’ because it’s the belt, it’s the dream. It is not personal. I would hope she would have that same understanding that this is not personal. This is friendship aside. This is just dreams and aspirations and what not. Would I fight Julie for a title? Yes, I would. If that’s what it comes down to then I would.”
For her, the dream outweighs friendship in the cage.
Tate also broke down Peña’s fight with Harrison, set to be a bantamweight showdown. She’s got high praise for Peña’s grit.
“I always think Julie is so much better than people give her credit for,” she said.
Tate explained that Peña’s unorthodox style and raw power surprise opponents.
“Because it’s when you’re the armchair expert and you’re sitting on the sideline and you don’t know what kind of power that she puts behind her strikes. You don’t know the kind of tenacity and resiliency that woman has and the things that she does well. She looks awkward doing them sometimes but that’s even harder once you’re standing in front of somebody and they’re so unorthodox. They just do everything differently. But Julie’s so framed with her striking. So yes, it’s not snappy, but when you get hit by her, it’s unlike most of the women in the division. It’s not cute. It’s not like a pink bunny rabbit. It’s like a Mack truck just blowing through your body. I don’t know how else to explain it. She’s incredible. I think that is where it could really catch Kayla off guard.”
She thinks this could throw Harrison off in a stand-up battle.
Harrison’s no slouch, though.
“Kayla has an incredible skill set. We cannot deny the woman,” Tate said. “She should be exactly where she’s at. She’s got a great skill set, but if you are talking about a full on fist fight and slugging it out and who would shy away or break first just when you’re talking about those exchanges, I know it’s not Julie. If Kayla can get a hold of Julie and get her down, she’s always got a path to victory in that. But do I think she’ll win on the feet? No, I don’t think so at all. And do I think on the ground she’s going to have an easy time with Julie even if she gets her there? Absolutely not — which I do think she’ll get Julie there. I mean she’s just too good. She’s too well rounded, she’s got great judo, she’ll get Julie down but don’t be surprised if Julie gets on top of her and that could be a nightmare for Kayla. Julie has great reversals from the bottom. So she’s scrappy and tenacious and there’s no amount of damage that will ever even slow Julianna down. I think we’ve seen that in the fight with Amanda [Nunes]. It won’t even slow her down. You have to absolutely kill Julie to get a victory. That’s how I look at it.”
Tate believes Harrison will get Peña to the mat, but it won’t be easy, and Peña’s toughness could turn the tide.
For Tate, 2025 is about chasing gold while navigating a tricky path with her friend. Whether she faces Peña or not, she’s ready to fight for her dream, starting with Yana Santos on May 3, 2025.
