UFC takes another gamble with UFC 200 women’s title fight

On Wednesday night, UFC announced that women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate will defend against Amanda Nunes as part of UFC 200.

Tate vs. Nunes will be one of the three top fights on the show, along with featherweight champion Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz II (welterweight fight), and Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar for the interim featherweight title.

The fight is perplexing on almost every level. UFC is sitting on a goldmine right now in the women’s bantamweight division with big money fights on the horizon (Tate vs. Ronda Rousey III, Tate vs. Holly Holm II). A Nunes win would hurt that dynamic since she wouldn’t have near the buzz or interest level against any of those other fighters on the level Tate would have. If Tate was a lock to fight on this show, the only logical contenders would have been Rousey or Holm.

Nunes (12-4) has won three straight and five of her six UFC fights. She was last seen downing Valentina Shevchenko by unanimous decision at March’s UFC 196 — the same show on which Tate beat Holm for the gold.

Earlier this week, the fight was said to be under serious consideration for either UFC 200 or UFC 201. Tate signed a new deal with the promotion earlier this week as well.

UFC 200 is scheduled for Saturday, July 9th, in Las Vegas at the new T-Mobile Arena. It is expected to be one of the biggest UFC events of all-time, if not the biggest, in terms of PPV buys, media attention, and overall buzz.

Bryan Alvarez and I will talk more about the fight and the news from pro wrestling and MMA on tonight’s Wrestling Observer Radio.