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“Cupcake” actually made it out of
the first round against undefeated “Rowdy” in their second fight at UFC
168 in 2013. (Tate suffered a first-round submission loss to Rousey
back in 2012.)
None of Rousey's 10 other opponents can say that.Now, with Rousey’s dominant 34-second knockout of Bethe Correia on Saturday, eyes once again turn to the Rousey-Tate rivalry.
“It was a pretty quick fight, which I kind of anticipated,” Tate said on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani.
“I actually thought she might finish it at the end of the first round
because I know [Rousey] really wanted to punish Bethe. But Bethe ended
up going down like a sack of potatoes before, I think, Ronda could
really punish her like she wanted to.”
Tate vs. Rousey was the first true rivalry in women’s MMA history, but Correia’s veiled pre-fight comments about Rousey’s father’s suicide
had fans shuddering. It may not have been the long, drawn-out rivalry
that Tate and Rousey share, but the comments by Correia made Saturday’s
fight seem that much more personal.
Even Rousey’s greatest rival thought the Brazilian stepped over the line.
“If there was any time that I
actually felt bad for Ronda – kind of sympathized with her – it was in
this fight,” she said. “Because I really thought that Bethe overstepped
some personal boundaries that she just shouldn’t. I mean, Ronda and I
are probably never going to get along. We’re probably never going to be
friends, necessarily, but there’s a certain amount of respect that one
another should have for each other – as fighters, if nothing more.
“I think [Correia] got what was coming to her.”
Tate admitted that she was rooting for Rousey, and not just because she felt Correia deserved a beating.
UFC president Dana White said that a third fight with Tate and Rousey could co-headline Dallas Cowboys Stadium on Dec. 5 alongside the much-anticipated Conor McGregor-Jose Aldo match. However, Tate’s manager has yet to get an official call from UFC brass, so until there is official word, Tate is staying ready.
And hopeful.
“I want to be that person,” Tate
admitted. “…I know that will be one hell of a fight. I know that Miesha
Tate, she actually has a chance to beat Ronda -- and I know a lot of
fans feel that way.”
“We gotta get some competition here. We gotta get these girls to step up their game. And that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Tate says that her motivation is
at an all-time high. And with four consecutive UFC wins to her credit,
it’s easy to understand why. She started fighting at 19, and in just two
weeks she will be 29, so there are few, if any, that have more
experience; and there is certainly nobody more familiar with fighting
Ronda Rousey.
She admits that Rousey has been
doing “incredible things” and that she rightfully deserves all the
accolades that have come her way. That doesn’t mean, however, that she
isn’t spending every waking hour thinking of ways to beat Rousey if they
do eventually meet in the coming months.
And if it’s in Dallas, then all the better.
“I think that would be great,”
she said about the rumored showdown in Dallas. “I think that would be
one of the biggest pay-per-views ever in history, if not blowing all the
other ones out of the water.
“And if I get to fight Ronda on
an amazing card like that, it’ll make it that much sweeter when I go out
there and take the title.”
Source: Yahoo Sports
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