Destiny’s Child

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While the progression of a fighter’s skill set will always be an integral part of the ultimate product, choosing with whom to sharpen one’s tools can be equally important, and timing in that respect remains crucial. Meeting the right people with the attendant opportunities and circumstances can make all the difference.

For Tate and longtime boyfriend Bryan Caraway, the first break was hooking up with submissions whiz and Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Dennis Hallman, whose Victory Athletics gym in Olympia, Wash., included a motor home on the lot where the couple lived for nearly two years. Tate and Caraway met at CWU and have been through decidedly thin times while sticking together and supporting one another through the uncertain travails of fighting professionally.

“When we lived with Dennis, he didn’t charge us anything. The trailer was 20 feet from the gym. Brian would fight and get his payday, and then I’d fight, and we’d live off that. We just went back and forth,” she says. “It was just enough to make it, and then one of us would get another fight. It just kept barely working out. I have to credit a huge part of that to my friends in the MMA world that gave us an opportunity to stay with them [to train] for very little money or for free.”

However, the relative isolation of the Pacific Northwest prompted Tate and Caraway to look south to California, an MMA hotbed rife with opportunity. They decided to relocate there but found themselves caught up in the responsibilities of helping out friends and teammates. There was always something that delayed the move.

“We probably spent a solid six months after we decided to move to California. We kept letting everything get in our way,” Tate says. “It was always another reason, having to corner people, etcetera. We’d had enough procrastinating and thought, ‘If we keep going at this rate, we will never go,’ so we packed up our stuff. We didn’t have any direction or know where we were going to stay.”

As 2010 was winding down, Tate and Caraway moved to Sacramento, Calif. Once again, the generosity of the MMA community -- including former World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight champion and Team Alpha Male founder Urijah Faber -- helped them drop anchor in their new locale.

“We stayed on Urijah’s couch for a couple weeks, and then with other friends,” Tate says.

Carraway, a featherweight and WEC veteran, now trains alongside Tate at Team Alpha Male. On a typical day at the team’s professional practices, the room holds various combinations of elite talent, from Faber and the unbeaten Chad Mendes to the world-ranked Joseph Benavidez. Lightweight Danny Castillo is also in the mix, along with a cadre of emerging lower-weight class fighters looking to access the formula that has worked so well for the team’s most prominent names. Credit the time-honed wrestler’s creed: work your ass off two, three or more times a day, surround yourself with like-minded people and peers and be prepared to capitalize when the chance materializes.

As the only female involved in professional practice, Tate whirls, bounces off the mats and takes her lumps along with the rest of the guys. It has been an adjustment, but she likes the frenetic, up-tempo style.


“Their pace is faster. I love that,” Tate says. “My scrambling ability went way up.”

With the UFC’s acquisition of Strikeforce in March, Women’s MMA faces an uncertain future. For her part, Tate figures the best way to keep the product aired on center stage is to put on entertaining fights. That may seem a longshot presently, but many aspects in Tate’s life and career could have been classified as such.

“When I got into MMA, I had no idea it could get me where I’m at. I was just following something to fulfill my dreams. I want UFC and Zuffa to understand that women’s MMA is here to stay,” she says. “I take it as motivation. Being a champion means everything to me. If I could be that role model, to empower other women to pursue their dreams and passions, I would happily accept. Ever since I’ve been a little girl, I’ve had this mentality. I was born to do this. This is my destiny.”

Jason Probst can be reached at Jason@jasonprobst.com or twitter.com/jasonprobst.