A Conversation with Cobra Tate, the KING of Toxic Masculinity, in Warsaw, Poland

ABOUT ANDREW TATE
Emory Andrew Tate III (born December 14, 1986) is an American-British kickboxer from Chicago, Illinois, who competes in the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions. He is three times ISKA Kickboxing world champion and Enfusion Live champion. He is the son of the late chess master Emory Tate,and he's also a commentator for Real Xtreme Fighting, the largest MMA promotion in Romania.

KICKBOXING
After scoring major victories over former Super-cruiserweight British Champions Ollie Green and Mo Karbo, Tate challenged Paul Randall for the vacant ISKA English Kickboxing Light-cruiserweight title. Tate won his first ISKA Kickboxing title stopping Randall in the fifth round of their bout in Derby on April 25, 2009.[1][2]

Tate later scored a few more crushing victories and won the IKF- International Kickboxing Federation British Cruiserweight title against Daniel Hughes with a devastating first-round KO, then on March 19, 2011 he fought for the first time for ISKA world title in France.[3][4]

Andrew lost the fight for the vacant ISKA world Full-Contact light heavyweight championship to Jean Luc Benoit on points after 12 rounds however contested that he was the true winner. Due to the fight being so closely matched, three months later they had rematch in Luton, England, and this time Tate became champion defeating Benoit via spectacular KO in round 8 of the scheduled 12 rounds.[5][6]

He lost a close battle for the It’s Showtime 85MAX world title against champion Sahak Parparyan on May 12, 2012 in Kortrijk, Belgium on points. .[7]

On December 2, 2012 Tate participated in Enfusion 3: Trial of the Gladiators reality final tournament, to determine #1 kickboxer of the world in -85 kg category at that time. He qualified for tournament in August 2011 in Ohrid, Macedonia stopping Sammy Masa by second-round KO and Adnan Omeragić by first-round KO.[8]

He scored an easy victory in semi finals knocking out Ritchie Hocking with punches in the first round, but surprisingly lost in the final via first round flying knee KO from Franci Grajš, who fought hard battle in semi final against Sahak Parparyan.[9][10]

Tate avenged a 2011 loss to Vincent Petitjean and won his second ISKA world title in twelve rounds of two minutes. Fight was held in Châteaurenard, France on March 9, 2013 with Tate taking ISKA World Full-Contact Light Cruiserweight Championship via split decision.[11][12][13][14]

Andrew defended title one year later, also on Power Trophy event, stopping Cyril Vetter early in the first round.[15][16]

After taking four victories in Enfusion Live ring during 2013 over David Radeff, Marino Schouten, Marlon Hunt and Laszlo Szabo, Tate participated in a four-man tournament to determine Enfusion Live -85 kg World Champion, alongside Mirko Cingel, Jiří Žák and Rustam Guseinov. Tournament was held in Žilina, Slovakia on April 26, 2014, Tate lost in semi finals to local fighter and tournament winner, Miroslav Cingel, via unanimous decision.

Despite losing in the semi finals of tournament for Enfusion Live -85 kg championship Tate got opportunity to fight for Enfusion Live -90 kg championship against kickboxing veteran Wendell Roche on June 28, 2014. Andrew won the title in second round, becoming the second fighter that stopped Roche in his 200 fight career.

PERSONAL LIFE
Tate’s father Emory Tate was a strong chess player who won the US Armed Forces championship three times and defeated several grandmasters during his career. Tate is of African-American and English descent, and has two younger siblings: his brother, Tristan (who appeared in Shipwrecked: The Island).