Despite a strong start and strong final round, the efforts for Miesha Tate proved to be for naught at UFC Des Moines, as she falls to Yana Santos in the featured prelim bout.
Tate looked to close distance right away, landing on Santos before Santos fired back and scored a brief clinch. The two had plenty of exchanges throughout the opening frame, but Santos appeared to be landing the stronger strikes, in spite of Tate's volume.
Santos continued to control the action and land the more effective strikes in the second round, stuffing Tate's takedown attempts all the while. That is until the third round, where the former UFC bantamweight champion scored a takedown early. Tate dominated the round with ground-and-pound, and she nearly could have finished the fight at one point with a choke.
Santos survived, however, and Tate's efforts were not enough for a 10-8. Santos took the fight on all three judges' scorecards 29-28.
Yana Santos Survives Miesha Tate Near Comeback In Third Round Of UFC Des Moines Featured Prelim
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Santos has now won two straight after a three-fight losing skid. She came into this fight off a win over Chelsea Chandler back in August.
Tate is just 2-3 in her comeback to the UFC that she started in 2021. This was Tate's first fight since her submission of Julia Avila at UFC Austin in December 2023.