What happens when Miesha Tate"s trainer is also her boyfriend

Countdown to UFC 196: Holly Holm vs Miesha Tate
What happens when Miesha Tate"s trainer is also her boyfriend

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UFC bantamweight champion Holly Holm has a pleasant press conference with opponent Meisha Tate ahead of UFC 196. USA TODAY Sports

Miesha Tate and Bryan Caraway don"t always find it easy to separate being fighter-trainer and boyfriend-girlfriend.(Photo: Ethan Miller, Getty Images)

LAS VEGAS When Miesha Tate first revealed she wanted to be a mixed martial arts fighter about a decade before her championship fight Saturday against Holly Holm Bryan Caraway, then a budding MMA fighter and trainer, was strongly opposed.

He was interested in her as a potential girlfriend, and the thought of Tate fighting soured their budding romance.

I was like, Whoa, this is my deal, Caraway told USA TODAY Sports. You dont want to get your face punched. Youre a cute little girl.

Hows this for cute: Tate and Caraway eventually hooked up, in and out of the gym, and forged a relationship that has help develop Tate as perennial top contender and given her a third shot at a UFC championship. But for boyfriend/trainer and girlfriend/fighter, it has not been easy.

In fact, in 2013 Tate brought in a second trainer, Robert Follis.

He serves as a great buffer between Bryan and I when emotions get tense, Tate told USA TODAY Sports.

Strong emotions always have been at the root of the relationship between Tate and Caraway. They struck up a romance in 2005 at Central Washington University soon after Tate joined the MMA club Caraway helped start. But Caraway, who was helping train Tate, decided the relationship must be strictly business after Tate declared her intentions to fight competitively.

Initially, Caraway said, he was hoping she would quit.

We were a little bit more rough on her, he said. But I remember one day looking over and she was working just as hard if not harder than everyone on the team. Thats when I realized she was legit.

Tate started dating another MMA fighter, and a few months later, her new boyfriend committed suicide.

Tate, devastated, stopped training.

I really crawled into a shell, she said, adding that she did not resume training until she got a call from Caraway. It was really Bryan who pushed me to get back into mixed martial arts.

When she returned, their relationship changed. Caraway soon became Tates boyfriend and trainer, and so began their ascent in MMA. She made professional debut in 2007 and compiled a 12-2 record before getting a shot against Ronda Rousey in 2012.

After a first-round loss, Tate got a rematch in 2013. She became the first fighter to survive more than one round with Rousey in a competitive, three-round loss. Tate has since won four consecutive fights.

But perhaps her biggest victory was convincing Caraway that a cute little girl could handle herself in the octagon.

Obviously she won that battle, said Caraway, who also competes as a fighter and is 20-7 in MMA. It taught me a lot, not to put limitations on somebody just because youre uncomfortable with it.

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Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ufc/2016/03/04/meisha-tate-holly-holm-boyfriend-trainer-bryan-caraway/81332214/

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What happens when Miesha Tate"s trainer is also her boyfriend

Countdown to UFC 196: Holly Holm vs Miesha Tate
What happens when Miesha Tate"s trainer is also her boyfriend

115

Share This Story!

Let friends in your social network know what you are reading about

What happens when Miesha Tate"s trainer is also her boyfriend

Bryan Caraway, also an MMA fighter, opposed Tate entering sport

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UFC bantamweight champion Holly Holm has a pleasant press conference with opponent Meisha Tate ahead of UFC 196. USA TODAY Sports

Miesha Tate and Bryan Caraway don"t always find it easy to separate being fighter-trainer and boyfriend-girlfriend.(Photo: Ethan Miller, Getty Images)

LAS VEGAS When Miesha Tate first revealed she wanted to be a mixed martial arts fighter about a decade before her championship fight Saturday against Holly Holm Bryan Caraway, then a budding MMA fighter and trainer, was strongly opposed.

He was interested in her as a potential girlfriend, and the thought of Tate fighting soured their budding romance.

I was like, Whoa, this is my deal, Caraway told USA TODAY Sports. You dont want to get your face punched. Youre a cute little girl.

Hows this for cute: Tate and Caraway eventually hooked up, in and out of the gym, and forged a relationship that has help develop Tate as perennial top contender and given her a third shot at a UFC championship. But for boyfriend/trainer and girlfriend/fighter, it has not been easy.

In fact, in 2013 Tate brought in a second trainer, Robert Follis.

He serves as a great buffer between Bryan and I when emotions get tense, Tate told USA TODAY Sports.

Strong emotions always have been at the root of the relationship between Tate and Caraway. They struck up a romance in 2005 at Central Washington University soon after Tate joined the MMA club Caraway helped start. But Caraway, who was helping train Tate, decided the relationship must be strictly business after Tate declared her intentions to fight competitively.

Initially, Caraway said, he was hoping she would quit.

We were a little bit more rough on her, he said. But I remember one day looking over and she was working just as hard if not harder than everyone on the team. Thats when I realized she was legit.

Tate started dating another MMA fighter, and a few months later, her new boyfriend committed suicide.

Tate, devastated, stopped training.

I really crawled into a shell, she said, adding that she did not resume training until she got a call from Caraway. It was really Bryan who pushed me to get back into mixed martial arts.

When she returned, their relationship changed. Caraway soon became Tates boyfriend and trainer, and so began their ascent in MMA. She made professional debut in 2007 and compiled a 12-2 record before getting a shot against Ronda Rousey in 2012.

After a first-round loss, Tate got a rematch in 2013. She became the first fighter to survive more than one round with Rousey in a competitive, three-round loss. Tate has since won four consecutive fights.

But perhaps her biggest victory was convincing Caraway that a cute little girl could handle herself in the octagon.

Obviously she won that battle, said Caraway, who also competes as a fighter and is 20-7 in MMA. It taught me a lot, not to put limitations on somebody just because youre uncomfortable with it.

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UFC fighters Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz exchange verbal jabs ahead of their UFC 196 fight. USA TODAY Sports

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The UFC featherweight had a lot to say during Thursday"s media event before his fight against Nate Diaz. USA TODAY Sports

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UFC bantamweight champion Holly Holm has a pleasant press conference with opponent Meisha Tate ahead of UFC 196. USA TODAY Sports

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She wasn"t ready for Holly Holm. USA TODAY Sports

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• Ronda Rousey having hard time eating after loss to Holly Holm

• Ronda Rousey predicted KO loss to Jimmy Fallon

• Dana White reacts to Holly Holm"s stunning win at UFC 193

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Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ufc/2016/03/04/meisha-tate-holly-holm-boyfriend-trainer-bryan-caraway/81332214/

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Bryan Caraway didn"t want Miesha Tate to corner him at UFC on FOX 16 | MMAjunkie

CHICAGO Bryan Caraway and Miesha Tate are in a situation almost no one can relate to.After all, not many relationships involve two professional fighters, let alone two who have competed in the UFC octagon on the same night.

Caraway (20-7 MMA, 5-2 UFC) and Tate (17-5 MMA, 4-2 UFC)both competed Saturday night at UFC on FOX 16. Not only did both pick up wins, but they worked each others corner during the event. With a title shot on the line for Tate, it seemed a risky move for her to go through the emotional rollercoaster of cornering her boyfriend earlier in the night.

But Tate had no plans to avoid the corner for Caraways win over former WEC champion Eddie Wineland (21-11-1 MMA, 3-5 UFC).

I was prepared to put it behind me either way, Tate told MMAjunkie at the post-fight press conference. Once he won, it was great. But I knew that, no matter what happened, I was going to separate my fight from his fight emotionally. Thats something we get a lot of practice with anyway, being a couple inside the gym. We have to separate things. Its something that I feel like Im really good at. Its not the first time we fought on the same card together. But it is the first time that we fought in the UFC together and cornered each other on the same night. It was a little more stressful than normal, but we were both super motivated. And I felt like I had a lot of positive energy.

Tate fought in the co-main event of the evening, facing Jessica Eye (11-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC)in a No. 1 contender fight. The winner was to receive a shot at the winner of Ronda Rouseys UFC 190 title defense against Bethe Correia.

Tate pulled off an impressive victory, dropping Eye multiple times en route to a wide unanimous decision victory. UFC President Dana White confirmed that Tate was up next for a title shot following the bout.

The stakes of that fight had Caraway wanting Tate to take a pass on working his corner, but he knew better than to fight with Tate.

I actually didnt want her to corner me, Caraway said. I was worried. I didnt want her to have an adrenaline dump at all. Just from the crowd or seeing everything or if something happened during my fight. I didnt want her to worry. Even if she was mentally okay I didnt want that natural hormone to have that adrenaline dump and affect her in her fight. But she told me, Youve always been there for me and Im going to be there for you, no matter what. I wasnt going to argue with her. You dont argue with her.

For complete coverage of UFC on FOX 16, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

Bryan Caraway, Miesha Tate, UFC on FOX 16, Featured Videos, News, UFC, Videos

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Source: http://mmajunkie.com/2015/07/bryan-caraway-didnt-want-miesha-tate-to-corner-him-at-ufc-on-fox-16

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