Issue 120

October 2014

UFC women’s 135lb title contender, Cat Zingano remembers fighting more than just Miesha Tate in her Octagon debut.

It was a long time coming for women to get an opportunity in the UFC, but I went into my Octagon debut against Miesha Tate in April last year believing it was just like any other fight. My training camp was pretty normal, but the overall experience was anything but.

In all my previous fights I never felt like I had been really noticed or talked about, but leading up to this one there was a lot more publicity. Everything I said was quoted, re-quoted and talked about, and people formed opinions on it. 

I remember hearing Miesha say the UFC opportunity was going to be overwhelming for me. I thought, ‘Wow, she doesn’t know me at all. I always perform at my best under that type of pressure.’

It was different in the back room area. The cameras were there as I was warming up, there was a specific time to walk out, a specific time to act this way and that way. It was a bit out of my comfort zone. I wasn’t prepared to be anything but a fighter that night. 

There was a lot of other things that went along with it too. When we were walking out I saw the crowd, heard the noise, saw the lights and the power of my walkout song was gigantic. It all hit me like a bucket of cold ice water. I felt really overwhelmed at that point. 

I walked into the cage and saw the same people I have been seeing on TV for a long time. I really wanted to soak up the entire experience. I walked around the perimeter and wanted to feel every corner. I wanted to stomp up and down and hear the noises and effects ahead of what I was about to get into. I couldn’t really get myself out of that moment. 

It was a great feeling but it definitely took me a while to get it out of my system. I only realized I was in a fight about half way through the second round. I realized I was getting hit and all of that but it didn’t really sink in right away.

Things started to change when she pulled an armbar on me. I got out of it, circled around and we had a little bit of a scramble. I don’t remember how, but I just kind of rolled back on top when she attempted to do something else and ended up in her guard. I tried to fight out of it and she threw on a heel hook, but I felt she wasn’t doing any of the things that you need to do in order to finish it. She was just kind of hanging out there. 

I remember looking at her face and I could tell she was giving it everything she had and I’d not even felt like I had woken up yet. I looked at her body language and the lack of torque in this perfect position to finish the fight and I realized, ‘I got this! I’m going to win the fight.’

I felt like she had given everything she had and she couldn’t put me away. It was almost like I got permission to turn it on. I used that pressure and patience from the heel hook to turn it over into my own side control by stepping over. 

From there it was just about keeping that top control and working in striking to pound her out. Going into the third round I was done losing. I was done having anybody take away from me what I worked so hard for. 

I had to fight for that one. I experienced things I never had to experience. I was in bad positions and being dominated. I was getting hit with elbows and punches and being taken down. Those were all new experiences for me. 

But I’m really glad they happened because I now know what it’s like and I don’t like it. It all impacted on how I’ve trained for my comeback at UFC 178. I’m just glad my UFC debut is done and out of my system, and rest assured I will have a better performance this next go around.