Why was Lauren Murphy vs. Miesha Tate at UFC 276 cancelled?

Lauren Murphy was scheduled to face Miesha Tate at UFC 276 this weekend, however, after testing positive for Covid-19 the bout had to be canceled. The fight has now been rescheduled for July 16th at UFC on ABC 3: Ortega vs. Rodriguez.

Both women are UFC veterans, with Tate making her debut a year prior to Murphy in 2013. They are also both looking to bounce back after losing their previous bouts. Tate lost a unanimous decision against Ketlen Vieira while Murphy is coming off a loss to Valentina Shevchenko after four rounds.

Murphy was on a four-fight winning streak before failing to snatch the flyweight belt away from Shevchenko in her previous outing. That's still better than Tate's recent form, with the former champion failing to win consecutive fights since 2016.

'Cupcake' was on an amazing run in the UFC from 2014 to 2016, beating Liz Carmouche, Rin Nakai, Sara McMann, Jessica Eye and Holly Holm in back-to-back bouts.

Watch Murphy's title shot highlights below:

As mentioned, the two fighters are now scheduled to fight in a few weeks time and hopefully, nobody has to pull out of this bout. Both women have some work to do if they're hoping to get the next title shot, meaning they will likely be looking for a fantastic finish to make a statement in the division.

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Who was the first woman to beat Lauren Murphy in MMA?

During the early days of Lauren Murphy's MMA career, she rarely had many mishaps, winning her first eight bouts convincingly. The 38-year-old started out at the Alaska Fighting Championship before transitioning to the well-known proving ground for female fighters, Invicta FC, after a one-off fight with Legacy FC.

However, after remaining unbeaten in all of these organizations, 'Lucky' suffered her first defeat on her UFC debut against Sara McMann at UFC Fight Night 47. Things wouldn't get much better in the organization for Murphy after losing her second fight to Liz Carmouche at UFC Fight Night 63.

After some mixed results, Murphy finally started to gain some momentum in 2019. 'Lucky' went on a five-fight winning streak, beating Mara Borella, Andrea Lee, Roxanne Modafferi, Liliya Shakirova and Joanne Wood.

This impressive winning run eventually earned the 38-year-old a UFC title shot against Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 266. However, Murphy was unable to make it to six wins in a row and lost the bout in the fourth round against 'Bullet'.