Miesha Tate on controversial Yan vs. Aldo stoppage: “I’d have that man ref my fight any day of the week”

Former MMA fighter Miesha Tate has given her thoughts on the controversial stoppage in the Bantamweight Championship fight between Petr Yan and Jose Aldo at UFC 251.

While the majority of fans can admit that Aldo put up a valiant effort against Yan in their title showdown last weekend, everyone could see that the Russian was on the verge of victory in the final round. After Aldo took a plethora of unprotected shots to the head during some ground and pound, many wondered why the fight wasn’t stopped earlier by referee Leon Roberts.

Tate, who won the UFC title in her own bantamweight division, spoke out about the matter for MMA on SiriusXM.

🔊 “We know exactly what we are risking, and we want to be allowed to risk it.” 👊

After the controversial Petr Yan vs. Jose Aldo stoppage, @MieshaTate tells @RyanMcKinnell she’d let Leon Roberts referee her fight any day of the week. #UFC251 pic.twitter.com/LfSbGTrMSi

— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) July 16, 2020

“I am not a fan of fights being stopped too quick, and people are concerned about safety,” Tate said. “My argument is: we are in a hurt business. We fight for a living. We sign on the dotted line and we know exactly what we are risking and we want to be allowed to risk it, okay? So we don’t want to be stolen from, we don’t want to be robbed, we don’t want fights to be stopped quickly. I wasn’t cringing at that stoppage [Yan vs Aldo]. I wasn’t upset. There was maybe two times in the last 30 seconds or so where I was kind of like oh, he could stop it here, and the ref chose not to.

“I didn’t feel upset about that because right when I felt like he should probably stop it, there was a slow down in the action,” Tate added. “Petr adjusted his position or Jose moved and it was like, yeah, it probably could’ve been stopped right there. I do think Jose Aldo knew that the fight was done before the ref decided to step in. I don’t think that anything was gonna change, but I’m not upset by it. I don’t think it was a horrible stoppage.”

Miesha Tate went on to suggest that she would prefer a referee that allows fighters to do their job as opposed to someone who tries to overdo it, indicating that she would let Leon Roberts ref her fight “any day of the week”.

“Do I think it could’ve been stopped earlier? Yeah, and I wouldn’t have been upset by it, I think it definitely could’ve been called at least two times before that and I would’ve felt like it was a good stoppage,” Tate said. “But the referee chose to let them fight it out and give ample opportunity, and you know Petr on the other hand probably should’ve kept going and not taken those pauses, sped it up, done something to change how he was delivering his flurries.”