Miesha Tate Latest MMA Athlete to Secure Spot in ESPN The Magazine’s ‘Body Issue’

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UFC bantamweight Miesha Tate will become the next mixed martial artist to bare all for the pages of ESPN the Magazine’s “Body Issue” when the publication’s 2013 edition hits newsstands Friday, July 12.

Tate joins a host of athletes selected to appear in this year’s issue, including New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and Denver Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried. “The Body Issue” will also showcase the likes of volleyball player Kerri Walsh Jennings, WNBA standout Swin Cash and 77-year-old golfer Gary Player.

The issue, which features elite athletes posing naked in sport-specific positions, was first published in 2009. Mixed martial artists like Gina Carano, Jon Jones and Ronda Rousey have previously posed for the publication, with the latter athlete gracing last year’s cover.

Tate, 26, is currently taping “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 18 opposite Rousey, who was initially supposed to square off with Cat Zingano after “Alpha” stopped Tate this past April. However, Zingano suffered a serious knee injury in training and was then replaced by Tate, who will now rematch the UFC champion at the conclusion of “TUF 18.”

Rousey and Tate first met last year over Tate’s Strikeforce title, with “Rowdy” lifting the belt from around her waist with a first-round armbar, dislocating Tate’s elbow in the process. Prior to that setback, Tate had won six straight fights, capping that stretch with a title-winning submission of Marloes Coenen in July 2011.