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Reigning UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate is all set to make her first title-defense at UFC 200 on July 9 against Amanda Nunes where she need to win to keep her schedule accordingly for 2016.

Tate is likely to make at least two title defenses this year starting with Nunes. And if she pulls through, her next opponent will likely be an old nemesis in Ronda Rousey.

It is likely that Rousey will face whoever stands as the champion by the time the UFC holds its first event (UFC 205) in New York City in November at the Madison Square Garden.

The state of New York finally legalized mixed martial arts recently and the planned event is a historic icebreaker for the UFC fans holed up over there. And Rousey has been mentioned as one of the UFC stars appearing. The former UFC women’s champion was also around when the legalization was made official.

"I'm going to beat Amanda on the 9th and I'm going to go on and hopefully we'll see Ronda [Rousey] maybe in Madison Square Garden," Tate said. "That would be great."

Against Nunes, Tate cannot afford to take the Brazilian lass for granted. She is coming of a unanimous decision win at UFC 196 over Valentina Shevchenko to push his win count to 12. Of those wins, 9 came from knockout. She has lost four times in her career.

It was during UFC 196 as well that Tate was able to wrest the title from Holly Holm with a rear-naked choke in the fifth round. It marked her 18th win and the seventh time she won via submission.

Nunes is confident of her chances, singling out that Tate has some holes in her game.

“I think Miesha as a fighter has a lot of holes in her game,” Nunes said. “The standup, ground game … I have all the tools to beat Miesha. I’m gong to show you guys. She’s beatable. If I take my time, I’m going to beat Miesha. Standup, ground game, whatever. UFC 200, it’s coming.”

For Tate, entertaining thoughts of a third meeting with Rousey is understandable though there is business to take care off. Nunes is no pushover and is on a three-fight winning streak. A loss to Nunes will once again throw the UFC world in disarray.

Tate has lost twice to Rousey but gained the respect of “Rowdy” for her toughness. She was also known as the only person to last longer against Rousey until Holly Holm pulled off a stunning second round knockout back at UFC 193 in November.