UFC Women’s Bantamweight Contender Miesha Tate to Appear in ESPN the Magazine’s ‘Body Issue’

UFC women’s bantamweight contender Miesha Tate will appear in ESPN the Magazine’s fifth annual “The Body Issue” set to hit newsstands on July 12.

Tate joins 20 other athletes in this year’s edition, including Mets’ pitcher Matt Harvey, San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback Colin Kaepernick and Dever Nuggets’ Kenneth Faried.  Also baring it all are: Courtney Force, John Wall, Vernon Davis, John Isner, Sydney Leroux, Carly Booth, Joffrey Lupul, Elena Hight, Agnieszka Radwanska, Chris Sharma and Daila Ojeda, Marlen Esparza, Tarah Gieger and 77-year-old golf legend Gary Player.

The issue, which first hit newsstands in October 2009, features athletes posing in nude or semi-nude photographs.

MMA stars Ronda Rousey, Gina Carano and Jon Jones have previously posed for the publication with Rousey featured on last year’s cover.

Tate and Rousey are currently filming “The Ultimate Fighter” season 18 in Las Vegas as opposing coaches.  Champion Rousey was originally scheduled to coach opposite Cat Zingano, who defeated Tate in April to earn the coaching position and title shot, but was forced of the show with a knee injury.  Tate replaced Zingano.

Rousey defeated Tate to capture the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight title in March 2012.  The two rivals will rematch at the conclusion of the season which airs on Fox Sports 1 in the fall.

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