One Championship’s Miesha Tate says ‘women need to hit things’ as she talks MMA, UFC career and Ronda Rousey feud

Former UFC champion says more women should get into MMA to unleash their ‘inner warrior’

Now a vice-president with Asian organisation One, Tate dishes on a variety of topics during her appearance at Rise conference in Hong Kong

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Miesha Tate, who recently made an appearance at Rise in Hong Kong, dived into a number of subjects during her two speaking sessions. Photo by David Fitzgerald/RISE via Sportsfile

Published: 4:05pm, 12 Jul 2019Updated: 9:07pm, 14 Jul 2019

As Miesha Tate makes her way around Rise, a tech conference held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai this week, her stardom is ever apparent.

Tate is moving from a Q&A panel where she answered questions on a variety of topics including icing (doesn’t believe in it), to whether or not she will let her infant daughter Amaia watch MMA fights when she gets older (she obviously will). As she makes her way across the showroom floor Tate is followed by streams of fans, and the ever gracious American vice-president of One Championship stops countless times for selfies and listens intently as enthusiastic supporters share heartfelt stories.

Tate is many things to many people: a champion, an icon, an outlier, an ambassador of the sport and above everything else: polite.

As One Championship looks to grow its brand as the “other” big MMA entity on the planet, there is no one more suited to represent the clean-cut ideal the company is putting forth in opposition to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. With a stable of equally bombastic and talented fighters, the UFC at times appears to have competing ideologies: at equal points embracing its bad boy, trash-talking image, and also trying to move beyond it.

Tate and One Championship are thus going in a completely different direction, or as Tate put it during her centre stage Rise talk with chief business development officer Hari Vijayarajan, promoting “good people who are also good fighters”.

Miesha Tate during her talk along with Hari Vijayarajan at Rise in Hong Kong. Photo: David Fitzgerald/RISE via Sportsfile

One Championship’s participation in Rise is a bit odd given it is a tech company start-up forum and conference, however in ways it is a perfect fit.