Miesha Tate built her name as one of the pioneers of women’s mixed martial arts, becoming UFC Bantamweight Champion in 2016 after a career defined by fighting the toughest names in the sport’s early days, including a rivalry with Ronda Rousey that predates the entire existence of women’s divisions in the UFC.
She has spent the years since building a second career that has quietly become just as significant, now serving as Vice President of ONE Championship, one of the UFC’s biggest global rivals.
She is also the mother of two children with her longtime partner, retired fighter Johnny Nunez.
She has been repeatedly, and wrongly, linked romantically to heavyweight boxer and former UFC champion Francis Ngannou, a rumor both parties have denied for years.
Miesha Tate Biography
She was born August 18, 1986, in Tacoma, Washington. Miesha Tate grew up in a family with a wrestling background, which gave her the physical foundation that later carried into MMA.
She attended Central Washington University, where a friend invited her to join the school’s mixed martial arts club, an invitation that ended up launching her professional career.
She is widely known by her nickname, Cupcake, a name that has followed her since her early fighting days and stuck through her entire career in the public eye.
MMA Career
Miesha Tate made her professional debut in November 2007 and, after building her name through the regional circuit, signed with Strikeforce, then the top rival promotion to the UFC in women’s MMA.
She won the Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Championship. Still, she lost the title to a rising Ronda Rousey, a defeat that became the foundation of one of the most heated rivalries in the sport’s early history, one that would follow both fighters into the UFC.
When the UFC absorbed Strikeforce’s roster in 2013, Tate’s early UFC run was rocky. She opened with back-to-back losses, first to Cat Zingano on The Ultimate Fighter Finale, then to Rousey again at UFC 168, submitted by armbar in under a minute of the third round.
From there she rattled off five consecutive wins, including victories over Liz Carmouche, Rin Nakai, Sara McMann and Jessica Eye, climbing back into title contention.
That run earned her a second UFC title shot, against Holly Holm at UFC 196 in March 2016, almost ten years to the day since her amateur debut.
Holm came in undefeated and heavily favored. Tate trailed on all three scorecards heading into the fifth and final round before scrambling onto Holm’s back and locking in a rear naked choke that Holm fought desperately to escape.
Tate described the moment afterward as the most overwhelming feeling of her life, saying it was the culmination of her entire career coming to a head.
The finish earned her a Performance of the Night bonus and the UFC Bantamweight Championship. Her reign was short.
She lost the title in her first defense to Amanda Nunes at UFC 200 that July, then lost again at UFC 205 that November, after which she announced her retirement, closing out a decade-long run that had taken her from Strikeforce challenger to UFC champion.
She briefly returned to competition in 2021, defeating Marion Reneau, and made additional appearances through 2022, including a grappling-only submission loss to Beatriz Mesquita at a UFC Fight Pass Invitational event. Her overall professional MMA record stands at 19 wins and 9 losses.
Beyond fighting, she has worked extensively as a broadcaster and analyst covering MMA, and in 2023 she won the UK edition of Celebrity Big Brother, introducing her to an audience well outside combat sports.
ONE Championship
The most significant update to Tate’s career in recent years has nothing to do with the UFC at all. She now holds the title of Vice President at ONE Championship, the Singapore-based promotion often described as the UFC’s biggest global competitor.
This role reflects her transition from athlete to executive within the sport. Her connection to ONE Championship runs deeper than her own title, since her partner, Johnny Nunez, also competed for the promotion’s affiliated Evolve MMA gym, a move Tate herself helped arrange by connecting Nunez with ONE Championship’s CEO.
The family relocated from Las Vegas to Singapore as part of that transition, a period Nunez has described as a difficult adjustment at first that the family ultimately settled into and enjoyed.
Family
Miesha Tate has been in a long-term relationship with retired MMA fighter Johnny Nunez since 2018.
Nunez, known in fighting circles as Johnny Boy, wrestled collegiately at Boise State before turning pro in MMA, competing for organizations including the UFC’s Ultimate Fighter series, the World Series of Fighting, Bellator and later ONE Championship.
The couple has two children together. Their daughter, Amaia Nevaeh Nunez, was born June 4, 2018, following 67 hours of labor.
Their son, Daxton Wylder Nunez, was born June 14, 2020, in the bathroom of the family’s home in Singapore after a delivery that happened faster than the couple expected.
Francis Ngannou’s Wife Rumor
Tate’s name has been persistently linked to Francis Ngannou, the Cameroonian French heavyweight who held the UFC title before moving into professional boxing.
Still, every available account points to the same conclusion: the two are close friends rather than a couple.
The speculation dates back to 2021, when Ngannou posted a shirtless photo alongside Tate and used the caption to clarify that their relationship was a longstanding friendship, not a romance.
Tate has spoken about knowing Ngannou since his early days arriving in Las Vegas, describing how she helped him set up his first LLC when he was still struggling with English, and has repeatedly praised his humility and resilience as a friend rather than a partner.
Ngannou, for his part, has never confirmed a romantic relationship with Tate or with anyone publicly during his career.
He experienced a personal tragedy in April 2024 when his infant son, Kobe, born in January 2023, passed away, a loss he has addressed only briefly in public.
Miesha Tate’s Net Worth
Miesha Tate’s net worth is estimated at $1 million, built from her UFC and Strikeforce fight purses, broadcasting work, brand endorsements, and her current executive role with ONE Championship.
Her income today comes from a genuinely different source than most former champions still trading on name recognition alone, since her ONE Championship position represents an actual ongoing executive salary.
