Liz Carmouche came to the cage on Saturday evening with enough aggression and drive to dominate the first round, leading opponent Miesha Tate to believe Carmouche would come out the victor of the UFC fight. Tate dug up her reserves, however, and went on to secure a win that was voted unanimously among the judges.

The athletes put up a hard fight over three rounds, with Tate throwing punches but getting pinned for long periods of time by Carmouche. The first round and first half of the second round went to Carmouche, but Tate came back with more fire and took the final round, bringing her total record to 14-5. It was the first UFC win for her, but she almost thought it didn’t happen.

“I really thought that… I honestly actually thought that Liz probably won the fight, because she had more riding time,” Tate said. “But I haven’t watched the fight. That’s just what was going through my mind. I knew she won round 1. Round 2, like I said, she kinda just held me there for a while. And from what I heard from other people, the reason that the judges said I won Round 2 was based on damage – the fact that I was staying busy when she was just holding me. I was trying to throw elbows, I had the guillotine attempt, I had the sweep and popped up and did some damage, towards the end of the round. The reason I won the round the round was just based on damage. That’s all I can really say — I haven’t watched the fight.”

.@MieshaTate is less than thrilled with her performance but is happy to earn her first UFC win http://t.co/3LrGFlUtmv pic.twitter.com/7oOBtKn1l1

— UFC Fight Pass (@UFC_FightPass) April 20, 2014

Super happy to have my first ufc win!! Join me at my afterparty! http://t.co/CghwvRdowi

— Miesha Tate (@MieshaTate) April 20, 2014

What else can you say about Miesha Tate? She knew she was down after one round and did what she had to do. Very impressive.

— Jonathan Snowden (@mmaencyclopedia) April 20, 2014

Wooooooo congrats @MieshaTate. Way to show grit and finish strong. #TUF18 #TeamTate

— Chris Holdsworth (@holdsworth135) April 20, 2014

The outcome of the fight might have been on the controversial side for some, since it was difficult to see right away how much damage each fighter gave and received. Even UFC president Dana White was unsure at first which of the ladies had it.

“I thought Liz won rounds one and two, and I thought Miesha won the third round. But it’s one of those things where if you look at the second round, Liz didn’t really do any damage. She took her down, she held her. If you give Miesha points for submission attempts, it’s not crazy to say that Miesha won the fight either,” said White. “If you want to guarantee yourself a victory, take the judges out of it – finish fights. I’m sure other people thought Liz won the fight too, but if you look at what Liz did, just laid on her and didn’t do any damage, it’s not crazy to say that you could give the second round to Miesha.”

Image via YouTube