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4 years ago

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Miesha Tate reached out to UFC president Dana White in the summer of 2020. Tate and her husband, Johnny Nunez, had just had their second child, Daxton, and Tate was contemplating a comeback to the Octagon.

At the time, Tate and Nunez were living in Singapore. Tate was working in an office role for Asia-based One Championship and Nunez was fighting for that MMA promotion. But COVID-19 restrictions were making things difficult for the young family and they were planning on moving back home to Las Vegas.

With those thoughts in mind, Tate sent White a message on Instagram asking what the UFC boss thought about her — the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion — returning to competition for the first time since 2016. White, Tate said, saw the message. But he never responded.

“He totally ghosted me,” Tate said with a laugh.

Despite the lack of communication from White, Tate and Nunez went forward with their move back to the United States. Tate returned to Vegas with Daxton and their daughter, Amaia, that September. And in early 2021, Tate took things a step further with the UFC. She showed up unannounced to White’s office.

This time, he had no choice but to listen to her pitch. Tate said White was hesitant at first, but a few weeks later she was booked for a return bout against Marion Reneau. Tate won by third-round TKO — her first knockout in the UFC. “Cupcake,” one of the most popular women to ever set foot in the cage, was back.

On Saturday, Tate will take the next step on her comeback tour against Ketlen Vieira in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas (3 p.m. on ESPN+). ESPN ranks Vieira No. 8 in the world at women’s bantamweight. Tate, 35, is hoping a rehauled training regimen and renewed mindset helps vault her into a historic 2022.

The goals Tate has for next year are lofty ones: a title shot against Amanda Nunes, a title defense against former champion Holly Holm and a dream third fight against her heated rival, Ronda Rousey. Nunes has been the UFC women’s bantamweight champion since she choked out Tate to win the belt at UFC 200 in July 2016. Tate retired four months later.

“I think I can get the division spiced up a little bit,” Tate said. “I think that women in the division, they’re gonna be gunning for me — just as much as they’re gunning for Amanda.”

The TKO over Reneau, who had never been finished before, and Tate’s acceptance of the fight against Vieira should be seen as a statement, Nunez said. Tate isn’t back in the UFC just to hunt down big-money fights, even though she could, given her significant following. She wants to work her way back up the ranks and become the best 135-pound fighter in the world again.

“She’s a weirdo,” Nunez said with a laugh. “I love her to death, but she is that type. She couldn’t care less about the money, really. She wants to dig down deep and test herself and show our kids that anything is possible pretty much through hard work.”

Tate was surprised at her home eight days before the Vieira fight by USADA, the UFC’s anti-drug partner. The doping control officers took samples of her blood and urine for testing. Tate joked that USADA officials must have been browsing her Instagram selfies.

“I’m shredded,” Tate said with a laugh. “I’m like 12% body fat. They just can’t believe it.”

Nunez, an Ultimate Fighter veteran, has seen a marked difference in Tate during training. “Especially now when she’s in such good shape and stuff, I can’t take a second off with her,” he said. “I always have to be at the top of my game. She’ll catch me sometimes. Then I gotta hear it from her and she’s gonna tell people that she subbed me.”

Tate has completely changed her strength and conditioning regimen since returning from retirement. She’s working remotely with the Treigning Lab’s Sam Calavitta, who coaches the likes of former UFC men’s bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw, and on site in Las Vegas with trainer Korey Goodwin. Since she fought Reneau in July, Tate said she’s put on five pounds of lean muscle. Nunez said the detail-oriented Calavitta has Tate’s weight cut down to the calorie.

That is a far cry from Tate’s pre-retirement training camps, which Nunez described as “old school.” Nunez and Tate were not a couple until after her retirement in 2016, but they were teammates at Xtreme Couture. At the time, Tate’s camps were led by her ex-boyfriend, Bryan Caraway. Tate has been public about how what she has described as a toxic relationship affected her training and performances. That’s one of the main motivating factors behind her coming back now, she said — to see if she can achieve the potential she didn’t think she was able to reach before.

“I think it would be such a shame to leave the sport the way that I did, knowing that I was never allowed to or I was never able to give my full 100%,” Tate said. “Whether I become a champion or not, I had to do this for me.”

And that’s also the reason why recently she has been thinking about Rousey. The two had one of the most historic rivalries in mixed martial arts in the early part of the last decade. In many ways, the Rousey vs. Tate feud helped women’s MMA blow up, first in Strikeforce and then in the UFC. Rousey owns two armbar submission wins over Tate, in 2012 and 2013. Tate said her relationship with Caraway was a “detriment” to her and Rousey knew it — and exploited it.

“She knew part of the kryptonite for me was in my former relationship. [She] was causing the rift between him and I so that everything was unstable in the personal life,” Tate said. “I think I went into those fights so congested in my mind. I really wasn’t able to be just fighting her. I was also fighting myself. I was also fighting my relationship. I was also fighting all these extenuating circumstances.”

Tate said it would be a “dream” for Rousey to return from retirement, adding, “I know I have what it takes to beat Ronda Rousey.”

But Tate doesn’t want anyone to take her opinion as a direct challenge. Rousey just had her first child with husband Travis Browne in September, and Tate respects that.

“Don’t get me twisted,” Tate said. “I’m not trying to call out a brand-new mama. This has to be something she wants, too. I wouldn’t want to just call her out. She’s doing her thing, she’s retired. I would want to fight her at her best. If she chose she wanted to come back and she was like, ‘I want to come back and fight Miesha Tate’ or whoever, I would love another shot at her. But only if she was taking it seriously and she was training at her best and that’s what she wants, too.”

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Miesha Tate discusses how happy she was to be back in octagon at UFC Vegas 31.

Rousey vs. Tate 3 might not be realistic. Rousey has given no indication she wants to fight again. But Tate’s other goals for next year could be within reach. Tate has said from the moment she signed to fight Reneau that she wants another crack at Nunes. A win over Vieira, Tate believes, could get her that shot.

“I think a dominant win over her puts me, for sure, in the top five,” Tate said. “And I understand it could definitely put me in a No. 1 contender conversation. I think it depends on the performance.”

That’s very much on her mind as she prepares for this fight. Tate said she used the momentum from the Reneau finish to jump right back into training camp for Vieira. The fight was supposed to happen last month, but Tate tested positive for COVID-19, which she says has had no real ill effects on her training.

Tate wants very badly to make up for that lackluster, first-round defeat to Nunes in the main event of UFC 200. She envisions in which she wins the title back from Nunes in 2022 and Holm is her first challenger. Tate beat Holm to win the title at UFC 196 in March 2016 and Tate believes that rematch would make for the “perfect story.”

Of course, all these gold-lined roads for Tate first must go through Vieira. That’s fine, she said. Because if you weren’t convinced by her TKO win over Reneau, “then let me just sell you again Nov. 20,” Tate said.

An impressive victory could open up all kinds of fascinating matchups next year, fights that could infuse the women’s bantamweight division with some much-needed pizzazz. Tate is thinking big and is ready to back up her vision with her fists. On Saturday, she has a chance to open up the kind of possibilities that even White, the UFC president, cannot ignore.

“Title, Holly Holm, Ronda Rousey,” Tate said. “I would love it.”

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2025 ALCS: Live updates and analysis from Game 3

Published

6 hours ago

on

October 16, 2025

By

2025 ALCS: Live updates and analysis from Game 3

Oct 15, 2025, 10:45 PM ET

If the Toronto Blue Jays are going to bounce back, tonight’s the night.

After Toronto lost two at home to the Seattle Mariners, the American League Championship Series heads West for Game 3.

The first matchup at T-Mobile Park isn’t an elimination game, but the stakes couldn’t be much higher. It’s essentially a must-win for the top-seeded Blue Jays; only one team in MLB history has ever come back from trailing a postseason series 3-0. Meanwhile, for the Mariners, it’s a chance to get one victory away from the first World Series appearance in franchise history.

Stay here for our coverage — from the pregame lineups to the top moments during the game to our takeaways and analysis after the final pitch.

Key links: How Vlad Jr., Jays bet on each other | LCS update | Bracket

Top moments

Follow live for pitch-by-pitch coverage

Seattle goes back-to-back in the 8th for first runs since 1st inning

It’s raining homers! Alejandro Kirk‘s 3-run mash makes it 12-2

Vlad Jr. adds own home run as Jays pile on

Daulton Varsho‘s 2-RBI double caps off 5-run inning for Toronto

Blue Jays answer with their own blast — and now we’re tied

J-Rod hits 2-run home run to give M’s early lead

Josh Naylor rocking a vintage KD jersey ahead of Game 3

Lineups

Seattle leads series 2-0

Starting pitchers: Shane Bieber vs. George Kirby

Toronto

1. George Springer (R) DH
2. Nathan Lukes (L) LF
3. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (R) 1B
4. Anthony Santander (S) RF
5. Alejandro Kirk (R) C
6. Daulton Varsho (L) CF
7. Addison Barger (L) 3B
8. Ernie Clement (R) 2B
9. Andres Gimenez (L) SS

Seattle

1. Randy Arozarena (R) LF
2. Cal Raleigh (S) C
3. Julio Rodriguez (R) CF
4. Jorge Polanco (S) 2B
5. Josh Naylor (L) 1B
6. Eugenio Suarez (R) 3B
7. Dominic Canzone (L) DH
8. Victor Robles (R) RF
9. J.P. Crawford (L) SS

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How Vlad Jr. and the Blue Jays bet on each other — and won

Published

9 hours ago

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October 16, 2025

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How Vlad Jr. and the Blue Jays bet on each other -- and won

  • Jorge CastilloOct 15, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

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      ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.

SIX MONTHS AGO, just seven games into the 2025 season, the Toronto Blue Jays arrived in Queens with uncertainty hovering over Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s future. New York Mets fans, hopeful that their team could eventually land the impending free agent and partner him with Juan Soto, welcomed the first baseman with notably loud cheers at Citi Field to open the weekend series. Guerrero and the Blue Jays had failed to reach an agreement on a contract extension before an arbitrary mid-February deadline, and the drama would not die.

Then, suddenly, it did, hours after the Mets completed a weekend sweep. The deal was historic: 14 years, $500 million without deferrals, the third-largest contract in Major League Baseball history. The Canadian-born Guerrero, signed out of the Dominican Republic as a 16-year-old with a famous name, would be a Blue Jay for life. Guerrero bet on himself by turning down smaller offers and bet on the Blue Jays by agreeing not to test free agency. And the Blue Jays bet on the homegrown star at a massive price, having whiffed on other marquee talents in recent years. The impact was instant.

“We didn’t start playing our best baseball until May,” Blue Jays starter Max Scherzer said. “But if that didn’t get settled, it would be this cloud hanging over our season the whole time. The fact that that was resolved just kind of settled everything down. The outside attention is resolved. It’s no longer, ‘What’s going to happen here?’ It kind of took the elephant out of the room.”

Guerrero, 26, responded with his fifth All-Star season, batting .292 with 23 home runs and an .848 OPS in 156 games. His play, coupled with rebound seasons from George Springer and Bo Bichette and a deep roster of contributors, fueled the Blue Jays’ ascension from 74 wins and last place in 2024 to 94 wins, an American League East title and, now, Game 3 of the American League Championship Series.

The Blue Jays can point to a few possible turning points on their way to a fourth playoff appearance in six years. There was a three-game sweep in Seattle in early May. There was Bichette’s pinch-hit, go-ahead home run in the ninth inning in Texas later that month. But Guerrero’s agreement a week into the season helped pave the way to where the Blue Jays find themselves Wednesday: four wins shy of their first World Series appearance in 32 years.

Down 2-0 after the Mariners dominated the first two games in Toronto, it’s no easy feat. But the goal Guerrero has set for himself hasn’t changed.

“For me my goal always is to win a World Series, to bring the World Series here,” Guerrero said earlier this postseason. “My father, he never had the chance to win a World Series. That’s one of my goals, always been one of my goals, to do that for me, for him.”

THE JOURNEY TO this breakout postseason for Guerrero and the Blue Jays began more than a decade ago. In January 2015, months before Guerrero was eligible to sign as an international free agent, Edwin Encarnación received a call from Alex Anthopoulos, then Toronto’s general manager: The Blue Jays wanted to see a 15-year-old Guerrero, their top target that year, work out again in the Dominican Republic — and they needed to find a ballpark.

Encarnación, coming off an All-Star season for Toronto in 2014, reached out to his contacts and a workout was arranged to have Guerrero face older free agents from Cuba. With Encarnación and Blue Jays officials, including Anthopoulos and international scouting director Ismael Cruz looking on, Guerrero convinced the decision-makers.

“It was something special,” Encarnación said in Spanish on the field at Rogers Centre on Monday before Game 2 of the ALCS. “Vladdy was better than the Cubans. This kid, at 15 years old, showed off against them. He was special.”

That July, the Blue Jays used their entire international bonus pool to sign Guerrero for $3.9 million. Worried about the hoopla that came with being the son of a future Hall of Famer, Anthopoulos asked the team’s media department to hold a low-key event when Guerrero, born in Montreal during his father’s time starring for the Expos, was brought to Toronto for the first time. No news conference at the podium. Just batting practice on the field.

“I was concerned with the last name, the hype and the expectations were going to be out of this world,” said Anthopoulos, now general manager of the Atlanta Braves. “And they were anyway, as much as we tried to play it down.”

Guerrero was not immune to the pressure upon arriving for his major league debut in 2019 as the top prospect across baseball at just 20 years old. The years that followed were not a linear progression. After an AL MVP runner-up season in which he clubbed 48 home runs with a 1.002 OPS in 2021, his first year as a full-time first baseman, Guerrero hit 58 home runs with an .804 OPS over the next two years. Then came another breakout last season: a .323/.396/.544 slash line with 30 home runs in 159 games to raise his value heading into his platform year.

“He’s not easily distracted,” Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said. “He’s still very human, and I think the hardest part, from my perspective and my view, that Vladdy’s had to deal with is the expectation. Not the distractions off the field or the attention. And he embraced the expectations.”

This year, the pressure was on Guerrero to finally perform to those expectations in the postseason. He entered the AL Division Series against the New York Yankees 3-for-22 with two walks, five strikeouts and no home runs in six career playoff games — all losses — spread over three separate wild-card series.

Guerrero quickly discarded that history in Game 1, swatting a solo home run in his first plate appearance of the postseason. In Game 2, he cracked a grand slam that will long be replayed on Rogers Centre highlight reels. He finished the series 9-for-17 with three home runs and nine RBIs as the Blue Jays eliminated New York in four games.

“I think he’s improved a lot in all aspects,” Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk said. “The experience, how he’s matured as a person. He’s no longer the 20-year-old Vladimir when he debuted. Now he’s Vladimir.”

VLADIMIR VASQUEZ WATCHED the Blue Jays close out the Yankees last Wednesday from his restaurant 5 miles north of Rogers Centre. Born in the Dominican Republic, Vasquez moved to Toronto when he was 11 years old in 1990 and quickly became a fan of the early-’90s Blue Jays championship teams. He opened Cabacoa, a Dominican restaurant, a year-and-a-half ago — a sign of the city’s growing Dominican community.

“I’ve been following Vladimir Guerrero Jr. since he was in the minors,” Vasquez said. “It’s funny because his dad was the only older Dominican Vladimir I knew growing up. But it’s important for the community, for the Dominican community, to have somebody who’s that good who’s going to be here long term.”

It’s part of the responsibility Guerrero shoulders beyond playing first base and batting third. He’s the only Canadian citizen on Canada’s only MLB team. His No. 27 jersey is the one Blue Jays fans wear from British Columbia to Newfoundland. He’s the player the Blue Jays committed to as their cornerstone through his age-40 season in 2039 — 20 years after his debut — with hopes he’ll end up with his own Hall of Fame career.

“I look at Vladdy long term because I’ve gotten to play with the greats,” said Scherzer, an 18-year veteran and three-time Cy Young Award winner. “I’ve gotten to play with so many great, different players over my career. For me, he kind of fits this Prince Fielder-Miguel Cabrera mold. He’s kind of a hybrid between those two.”

In the short term, the agreement was an exhale. Perhaps, as Atkins said he’d like to think, the Blue Jays would’ve found their footing without Guerrero signing the extension. The pieces were in place two years removed from an 89-win season. But that variable, which had lingered from the day Guerrero reported for spring training, was removed.

Six months later, the Blue Jays, behind their franchise pillar, are breaking through.

“I think it kind of showed our fan base and the league kind of what we’re trying to do here short and long term,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “And it just kind of clears a little bit of a cloud around a really good player and allows the team to say, ‘OK, this is our guy, this is what we’re going to do.’ I think it kind of freed everyone up.”

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2025 ALCS: Live updates and analysis from Game 3

Published

9 hours ago

on

October 16, 2025

By

2025 ALCS: Live updates and analysis from Game 3

  • ESPN

Oct 15, 2025, 07:30 PM ET

If the Toronto Blue Jays are going to bounce back, tonight’s the night.

After Toronto lost two at home to the Seattle Mariners, the American League Championship Series heads West for Game 3.

The first matchup at T-Mobile Park isn’t an elimination game, but the stakes couldn’t be much higher. It’s essentially a must-win for the top-seeded Blue Jays; only one team in MLB history has ever come back from trailing a postseason series 3-0. Meanwhile, for the Mariners, it’s a chance to get one victory away from the first World Series appearance in franchise history.

Stay here for our coverage — from the pregame lineups to the top moments during the game to our takeaways and analysis after the final pitch.

Key links: How Vlad Jr., Jays bet on each other | LCS update | Bracket

Top moments

Josh Naylor rocking a vintage KD jersey ahead of Game 3

Lineups

Seattle leads series 2-0

Starting pitchers: Shane Bieber vs. George Kirby

Toronto

1. George Springer (R) DH
2. Nathan Lukes (L) LF
3. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (R) 1B
4. Anthony Santander (S) RF
5. Alejandro Kirk (R) C
6. Daulton Varsho (L) CF
7. Addison Barger (L) 3B
8. Ernie Clement (R) 2B
9. Andres Gimenez (L) SS

Seattle

1. Randy Arozarena (R) LF
2. Cal Raleigh (S) C
3. Julio Rodriguez (R) CF
4. Jorge Polanco (S) 2B
5. Josh Naylor (L) 1B
6. Eugenio Suarez (R) 3B
7. Dominic Canzone (L) DH
8. Victor Robles (R) RF
9. J.P. Crawford (L) SS

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