Patient Tate has her center stage

That switch of fortune paralleled Thursday evening, when she was working out at a Las Vegas gym and her boyfriend, Bryan Caraway, informed her she’d been elevated to the main event over the comeback of WWE star and former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar versus “Aussie-Kiwi” Mark Hunt.

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate stays busy in the gym, as does interim light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

If Tate had walked through the door mere minutes later, the title fight with Amanda Nunes would have been cancelled while if “Cupcake” didn’t make the weight limit, she would have been stripped of the title and the fight would go ahead but without the belt on the line. Kelvin Gastelum (11-2) T.J. Another heavyweight matchup features former champion Cain Velasquez against Travis Browne.

Not much has come easy for Tate, but she perseveres. Nunes (12-4) is an aggressive striker and fast starter but tends to slow as the fight goes on.

This women’s bantamweight scrap could determine who gets the next title shot.

Tate spent almost five years residing in Ronda Rousey’s shadow after losing twice to the former champion from Venice, California. Cormier (17-1), who appeared to have a tough time cutting to 206 pounds, will have a significant size advantage over Anderson Silva, who weighed in at 198.5. Julianna Pena (8-2) is ranked fifth and has fully recovered from a devastating knee injury in 2014.

Led initially by Ronda Rousey, the emergence of female fighters as powerful and impressive role models is a major part of the UFC’s current fabric.

“I was cutting weight last night and fricking what?” Each has also lost two of his past three fights. Dillashaw (12-3) vs. Raphael Assuncao (23-4) Sage Northcutt (7-1) vs. Since preliminary matches are fairly easy to watch – either on UFC Fight Pass or television – they will not be included. It wasn’t a press conference or an Ultimate Fighting Championship event – White had been ambushed by a group of paparazzi wielding video cameras outside a Los Angeles restaurant. He has used that and his skill and toughness to earn a UFC-record 13 performance bonuses. It was a major disappointment to MMA fans when he retired in 2012 citing serious health issues, but in the past couple of years two serious contenders for his crown have emerged.

In most sports that would be a turn-off, but not Saturday night, when there will be plenty of marquee names and interesting matchups to maintain the anticipation of this milestone event.

The most successful PPV in the promotion’s history was UFC 100 in 2009, which was purchased by 1.6 million households, generating an estimated $75m in revenue.