UFC on FOX 11 Date: April 19, 2014 Arena: Amway Center City: Orlando, FL Women’s Bantamweight bout: Miesha “Cupcake” Tate (-210) vs Liz “Girl-Rilla” Carmouche (+175) Fight Breakdown: The co-main event for UFC on FOX 11 will be a women’s bantamweight contest between a pair of former title challengers, and the winner will be on her way towards the goal of another shot at the gold. A ‘Fight of the Night’ candidate will likely be in the making when Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Miesha “Cupcake” Tate takes on inaugural UFC title challenger Liz “Girl-Rilla” Carmouche. Tate is the odds on betting favorite heading into this match-up at -210 ($210 to win $100), with Carmouche being the underdog at +175 ($100 to win $175) at Several Bookmakerss. Miesha “Cupcake” Tate (13-5 MMA, 0-2 UFC) is looking for her first UFC win, as she gets ready to make her third appearance inside the Octagon. She is coming off a third round submission loss against “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey in a title fight over three months ago, and while it was a losing effort, Tate was impressive in her ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus-winning performance. She also made history as the first fighter to take Ronda Rousey out of the first round, taking her all the way to the third. “Cupcake” has poor striking skills, but she has been working on it. She is a talented wrestler who works solid takedowns, as her former nickname “Takedown” would suggest. Tate owns two ‘female fighter of the year’ awards, and two ‘submission of the year’ awards. She is a talented submission artist who has won six of her 13 professional mixed martial arts bouts by way of tapout. Her conditioning is not great, as was evident in the Zingano bout. If she did not run out of gas, she would have very likely secured a unanimous 30-27 decision on the judges’ scorecards. I’m not confident, but I think we will see somewhat of an improvement in her cardio in this bout. This is the first time in Tate’s 18 professional fight career she has suffered back-to-back losses, and I have no doubt she will leave it all in the cage tomorrow night in her effort to get back in the win column, where she’s been used to being throughout the entirety of her mixed martial arts career. Liz “Girl-Rilla” Carmouche (9-4 MMA, 1-2 UFC) is coming off a unanimous decision loss against Alexis “Ally-Gator” Davis at UFC Fight for the Troops 3 back in November. She is the first female fighter to ever step foot into the Octagon, and tomorrow night on FOX, she will be looking to stay relevant in the UFC’s women’s bantamweight division with a win over the recent title challenger in Tate. “Girl-Rilla” is a very strong athlete who is good at taking her opponents down to the canvas, and controlling them there while laying a beating. She is good at putting the pressure on her opponents, and they find it difficult to get out from under her once they find themselves in bottom position. Carmouche is still somewhat of a beginner in most aspects of mixed martial arts; her jiu-jitsu and her striking both need work, and she’s certainly been working on it at Team Hurricane Awesome in San Diego, CA.. She has a solid chin, excellent cardio, and will be ready to give it her all for 15 minutes against the former Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion. Gabe’s Prediction: I just think Tate is better everywhere. The only advantages Carmouche holds over her are strength and conditioning. I wouldn’t be surprised to see her use her takedowns and top control to win two out of three rounds on the judges’ scorecards, but I think more often than not it will be Tate getting the better of her. This is a rare fight for Tate in which she has a striking advantage over her opponent, so I am expecting her to keep this fight standing and outpointing “Girl-Rilla” for the majority of 15 minutes. If this fight ends inside the distance, I think it will be Tate catching Carmouche with a submission, most likely an armbar. I don’t see a T/KO stoppage coming in this fight. Gabe’s Call: Tate by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27) Gabe’s Recommended Play: Miesha Tate (-210) parlayed with Jorge Masvidal (-210) for +117 4.75u to win 5.6u
