Author: Tom Jensen
Date: March 11, 2016
In an exclusive interview with FOXSports.com, Kevin Harvick said he already has had "The Talk" with Miesha Tate, the newly minted UFC female bantamweight champion.
The Talk was all about how Tate's life will change now that she's a champion, and how she needs to deal with her sudden change in status.
Harvick knows whereof he speaks, because he went through it himself in 2014 when he won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title. And with Tate a client of KHI Management, the talent representation agency run by Harvick and his wife, DeLana, she trusts what Harvick has to say.
"We did have that conversation the day after the fight, right here in this motorhome," Harvick told FOXSports.com Friday morning at Phoenix International Raceway. "I just told her you've got to remember what you did to get to this particular point. Everybody is going to want -- the UFC and all the people, they want the biggest story, they want the biggest opportunity to benefit their business.
"It's not about their business," Harvick said. "At this point, you've got to protect yourself. And you've got to protect yourself by picking and choosing the things that you need to do."
The next challenge for Tate, Harvick said, will be continuing to improve. Sure, Tate choked out Holly Holm at UFC 196 in Las Vegas last Saturday, but eventually she'll probably have a rematch with Ronda Rousey, who has beaten Tate twice before.
"You've also got to figure out what you need to do -- what are you going to do better in the next fight?" Harvick told Tate. "You know how hard you worked and how much time you bought into this particular fight. Now you need to figure out how to put in more time and do it better than you did it this time, because everybody else is going to get better."
Most of all, though, Harvick said Tate needs to control her environment.
"It's really time management and not being afraid to say no when you're tired or you don't feel good or whatever the case may be," Harvick said. "You have to overprotect yourself, because everybody wants a piece of the pie right now. And in the end, it's your pie, so you can figure out how you serve it."
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