Miesha Tate (photo via Strikeforce)

By FCF

It may have thrilled fans and won “Fight of the Night” honors, but Miesha Tate, and likely others, believe her fight with Cat Zingano was stopped too early. The bantamweight’s back-and-forth, TUF 17 Finale fight was brought to an end in round three, after Zingano staggered Tate with a series of knees and a thumping elbow.

As referee Kate Winslow dived in to stop the fight, however, Tate appeared to be working for a takedown and immediately protested the fight’s stoppage. According to MMA Fighting, Tate relayed after the bout that “I got from the bottom up. I got kneed a few times on the way. I tried to shoot another shot, and the fight was stopped. I didn’t feel like I was out of the fight.”

Tate furthered that she was “pissed to say the least” about the stoppage, and that further, “I don’t for one second feel like it should have been stopped.”

There is also apparently the question of whether one of the knees Zingano landed during the final flurry was illegal. According to Tate, a picture was sent to her revealing that one of the knees landed to her head, while she still had a hand on the Octagon floor.

UFC President Dana White, however, reportedly had no problem with the stoppage, but credited Tate for being “tough as hell.”

With the victory, Zingano will now coach opposite bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey in the upcoming season of TUF, and will fight the feared submission artist later this year.