UFC women’s bantamweight number-one contender Cat Zingano addressed a claim by her recent opponent, Miesha Tate, that she was hit with an illegal knee strike during their title eliminator bout on Saturday night.

Zingano, appearing on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, scoffed at the notion that she used an illegal knee on a downed opponent before scoring a spectacular come-from-behind victory against “Cupcake” at The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale.

"I think Miesha should drop it, that it was an illegal knee. I don’t feel like it was illegal. I feel like it was perfectly timed and it’s something I train for...It’s [like] splitting hairs but I know what it was."

Additionally Zingano, who earned a coaching spot opposite on the next season of TUF opposite UFC champ Ronda Rousey with the win, said she was just fine with the timing of when referee Kim Winslow waved off the fight.

“I was really trying to push that knee through her face. I was going to right into an elbow series right after that. I think between the three of us who were standing in that radius, we all knew that she was done.”

“I think it’s emotional to lose that way… but it was only going to get worse from there, so I think it was a good call for the ref to step in and stop it… (But) it sucks to have a controversial call.”

At the post-fight press conference, Tate said she was “pissed” with the stoppage, noting that she was still conscious when the bout was stopped.

The victory boosts Zingano’s record to 8-0 and earns herself a shot against Rousey at the tail end of this year.

Meanwhile, the loss is Tate’s second defeat in her past three fights and makes a rematch with Rousey look extremely improbable anytime in the foreseeable future.