‘I’ve never been in such good shape’: Miesha Tate shows off killer body ahead of UFC comeback (PHOTOS)

Former UFC bantamweight champion Miesha Tate has shown off a stunning and shredded physique ahead of her comeback to the octagon next month and claimed she is in the best shape of her life for her showdown with Marion Reneau.

Known as 'Cupcake', Tate uploaded visual proof of remarkable progress to her 2 million followers on Instagram.

Taking a selfie in the bathroom, it shows Tate with a ripped six-pack which is even more impressive considering she only gave birth to her second child, son Naxton, just over a year ago on June 14, 2020.

"I’ve never been in this good of shape, I’ve never taken my job more seriously," Tate claimed in her caption.

"I have tools and resources never available to me before. Everything is on the line."

"My body has done the most incredible things but the best is yet to come!," she vowed, before signing off with the hashtag #July17th and thanking a string of gyms, sponsors, fellow fighters and her husband Johnny Nunez.

Colleagues from the fight world rushed to compliment Tate on her feat, with Claudia Gadelha commenting "Oh Gosh baby mama" alongside a string of flame emojis.

Casey O’Neill, who made headlines for choking out Gadelha's compatriot Lara Procopio at UFC Vegas 29 last weekend, said: "You are the best. Can’t wait for you to prove it. I love you!"

Fellow pin-up Pearl Gonzalez, recently leaving MMA to cross over to BKFC with the likes of Paige VanZant, left a simple "#Goals" hashtag accompanied by open hands and prayer hands.

"Takedown Tate," remarked Urijah Faber with a tensed muscle smiley.

Tate thrilled MMA fans in March when announcing her first fight in five years following the loss of her bantamweight strap to the still-reigning Amanda Nunes and another defeat by Raquel Pennington later in 2016.

"My heart is full of passion," the ex-Strikeforce and FCF ruler said to ESPN via text message at the time of the announcement. 

"The fire has been lit. The sport has been calling for me – it's time I answer."

Since, then, though, she has shed more light on the circumstances that encouraged such a change of heart to the Victory Loves Company podcast.

"The moment that I knew I really wanted to come back, it was about the time I had my son about nine months ago," Tate explained.

"After I had my baby, the pandemic brought everything home for me, what’s important.

"I was stuck in Singapore, even though it’s not a bad place to be stuck.

"But for most people who grew up in America, you could take a road trip."

"I felt so stuck in Singapore. We couldn’t do that, we didn’t have a car," she said of life in the southeast Asian city-state, where Tate acted as ONE Championship's vice-president.

"We were stuck in a little tiny condo with no yard. I know this sounds like 'poor you', but the truth is it wasn’t the most ideal situation.

"It just made me think of all the things I really appreciate. And one of those things is being a competitor.

"And being cooped up and not being able to train, my mum couldn’t come for the birth of my son, the borders were closed.

"I came back to America and said, ‘I want to fight again.’ Time is valuable and support systems are available and that’s something I didn’t have at the beginning of my career, or really throughout my career.

"I’m excited now to have good coaches, [and] a good support system. Not that all my coaches weren’t good, Robert Follis was great but he passed.

"But it’s just different this time around. It’s something I’m looking forward to doing," Tate finished.

Speaking to My MMA News last week, Tate's foe Reneau, who has guaranteed the clash will be the last in her 11-year career, told of the "whirlwind of blessings" her journey has been.

"I think every fight, every coach, every training camp, has taught me some lessons.  I’ve developed a thicker skull, a better understanding for people, a better [understanding] of myself.  I think all around, it is the best thing that has ever happened to me besides the birth of my son," said the 43-year-old school teacher.

"You know, I don’t, honestly, I don’t go into a fight and think about that. You know what I mean? Think about the here and now," she insisted, when asked if she might take Tate to a decision win on the judges' scorecards.

"I just don’t think about now because it’s been brought up a lot and I was like, 'Hey, stop talking about it.' I don’t even allow my own corner, my own coaches to talk about it. I’m like, ‘We still have one more to go.’ And she is tough. She has knockout power. She’s a gamer. She presses forward. So like, that’s not talking about that right now. We still have one more in us.”

"I thought that was an amazing amount of respect," Reneau admitted, after being probed on how it felt when Tate said she'd be 'honored' to fight her.

"And obviously I have a ton of respect for her in the game. I actually...though when I say this, people could take it [the] wrong [way], but I grew up in the sport of MMA."

"Although I am older than her, I recognize that, I was watching her before I was fighting. I started later on in my life. I started when I was 29, 30 years old. So I grew up in this sport, watching the Miesha and actually wanting to fight her.

"[It's] so ironic how I say this, and I said it over and over, how things come full circle. And I feel like all the dots are connected where they moved to be. And I’m where I need to be, exactly at the moment I need to be here."