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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
With Cris Cyborg still suspended, and not planning to drop to 135 lbs., there aren't many well-known, viable options for Strikeforce to book against Women's Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey. One potential fight would be a rematch with Miesha Tate, from whom Rousey captured the title in March, as Tate submitted Julie Kedzie on Saturday night's card.
However, Tate took herself out of the running for that fight, saying she didn't feel her performance against Kedzie warranted a title rematch.
"I'm personally not happy with my performance and I don't think it was a contention-worthy performance," Tate said after the event (transcribed by MMAJunkie.com). "So I'm not going to ask for [a title shot] at this point because I don't feel that I deserve it. I think that I need to take a couple fights and I need a better performance than that. The fans deserve something better, and I'm just taking it one step at a time and see where it goes from there."
Tate had to survive a bad spot during the fight, as she got knocked down with a head kick from Kedzie. Tate survived, and in an interesting twist - considering how she lost her title in March - she pulled off an armbar submission in the third round.
"It's kind of ironic, I guess, if you think about it," Tate said. "Winning a fight is always satisfying. I was happy that I won. But I wasn't thrilled with my performance."
Penick's Analysis: Tate was simply being honest about how Saturday's fight went, but she may not necessarily have been in line anyway if she had asked for a rematch. She got beat decisively by Rousey, and though the current crop of challengers is a bit light, at least as far as known names are concerned, Tate snatching a come from behind win wasn't likely to be her ticket to a quick turnaround rematch.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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