Miesha Tate and Cat Zingano took home FOTN honors at last night's TUF 17 Finale in Las Vegas, but Zingano earned the late TKO victory and a title shot against UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. Tate was battered with hard knee strikes by Zingano in the 3rd, prompting Kim Winslow to call the fight off. When asked if the fight was stopped too soon, Tate had this to say: (Quotes from MMA Fighting)
"I do," Tate bluntly responded. "But I just know how I felt inside the cage. I haven't had a chance to actually go back and watch it, but [Winslow] came in and told me before we left the locker room that, ‘If I warn you to move, all I need to know is that you want to stay in the fight.' And I felt that I did that. I got from the bottom, up. I got kneed a few times on the way, tried to shoot another shot, and the fight was stopped. I didn't feel like I was out of the fight."
She then went on to add:
"[Winslow] told me, ‘Show me something.' I don't know what you want. You know, I sat up, I shot a double, I got back to my feet. I took some damage because of that, because I was trying to listen to the referee, and she f--king stopped the fight. What do you want, you know?"
I can't say I agree with Tate here. She took multiple undefended knees to the face and looked just about out on her feet. For as much stick as Kim Winslow gets for being a poor referee (much of it perfectly justifiable), she absolutely made the right call in stopping it.
It should be noted that Tate was up 20-18 on two of the judges' scorecards, so unless Zingano notched a 10-8, Tate was likely on her way to a split decision win.
UFC president Dana White had "no problem" with the stoppage, and praised the overall quality of refereeing last night.
SBN coverage of The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale
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