Miesha Tate will wait a little longer than originally expected for her flyweight debut.
Her bout vs. Lauren Murphy, previously scheduled for a UFC Fight Night event on May 14, has shifted to UFC 276 on July 2.
The event is expected to take place in Singapore, a country in which Tate lived during her time as the vice president for One Championship. During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, she moved back to the United States.
It is unclear why the bout shifted dates.
Two people with knowledge of the change confirmed it Wednesday to MMA Junkie after a tweet from MMA reporter Ariel Helwani, but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
After losing a unanimous decision to Ketlen Vieira in the UFC Fight Night 198 main event in November, Tate (19-8 MMA, 6-5 UFC) openly pondered a move down to flyweight. The former UFC and Strikeforce bantamweight champion explained that after her good friend Julianna Peña dethroned Amanda Nunes to capture the 135-pound title, the idea of changing weight classes became more viable since she’d rather not gun for Peña.
In non-fight-related news, Tate recently won a season of the reality series “Celebrity Big Brother.”
Meanwhile, Murphy (15-5 MMA, 7-5 UFC) will look to rebound from her title loss to flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 266 in September. Prior to that, Murphy was on a five-fight winning streak, including wins over Andrea Lee and Joanne Wood.
No other fights have been announced for UFC 276 at this time.
