Miesha Tate wants a title shot at Holly Holm, and she’s trying to make her case to have that fight happen before Ronda Rousey returns for a rematch with Holm.
“Here’s why I think the fight with Holly and I makes sense – for one, I haven’t ever fought Holly before. For two, I was Ronda’s biggest challenge until Holly so obviously I’ve proven that I’m a stand out in the division and so is Holly,” Tate explained in an interview with FoxSports.com. “If Holly would beat me, then they could still set up that great rematch that they want between her and Ronda. If I beat Holly then I’m 5-0 and I beat the girl who beat Ronda, what better case could they ever make to have me fight Ronda again? I think that fight sells itself.”
Tate was passed over for a third fight with Rousey in favor of the Holm matchup, and after Holm knocked Rousey out Tate had a few less-than-kind things to say about Rousey. She addressed her immediate reaction, and though she accepts she went a bit overboard, she feels it was a heat of the moment situation.
“There was an overwhelming amount of emotion,” Tate said regarding those post-fight comments. “Everything from feeling like that was supposed to be me in there accomplishing that, that was supposed to be my title shot to liking Holly to disliking Ronda to seeing everything Ronda created kind of blow up into her face because I feel like with a lot of the comments she made and has continued to make during her career she’s come across as very arrogant and how she charged forward on Holly at the weigh-ins and then somehow tried to act like she was the victim. I didn’t see it that way at all. How she wouldn’t touch gloves with Holly, how she wouldn’t shake hands with me after the fight was over. These are all things that show more of her true character. None of us are perfect, but I’ve seen Ronda demonstrate that time and time again where I don’t feel like she’s a very good person.
“I’ve said it many times and I don’t agree with how she treats people sometimes. Me and my loved ones she’s been very harsh towards. She said many things to create the animosity that I have towards her. Do I still have a ton of respect and admiration for her as an athlete? Absolutely. Do I think that I could have handled that situation a little bit better? Yeah, I don’t think that I handled that the best but at the same time it was this sweeping, overwhelming sense of emotion and it just kind of got the best of me. I’m not apologizing for it but admitting that I’m human and that probably wasn’t the best way that I could have handled it but I did handle it that way so I’m just going to accept it and move on forward.”
Penick’s Analysis: I don’t think the UFC will find a Holm-Tate fight as the right move to make. Holm looked great against Rousey, and though that should make her favored over other fighters in the division, there are some dangerous stylistic matchups there, and the money is in the Rousey fight. A Holm-Tate bout is great for Tate, because win or lose she has a big fight, and in the case of a win could then manage to get the rematch with Rousey she’s been seeking. But it doesn’t make sense for Holm or the UFC to put that fight together if the plan is for Holm to face Rousey at UFC 200. It’s just a risk they’re unlikely to take.
[Photo (c) Jayne Kamin-Oncea via USA Today Sports]
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