Miesha Tate was lined up for a third bout against Ronda Rousey after she’d beaten Jessica Eye at UFC on FOX 16 in July, but those plans went up in smoke when Rousey announced that she was actually fighting Holly Holm instead. Tate expressed shock and disappointment when she found out the news, and UFC president Dana White basically cited Tate’s two prior armbar losses as the big reason. White later followed that up by saying Tate, who is on a four-fight winning streak, still needs a couple of wins to earn another shot at Rousey.
As a special guest on Wednesday’s edition of UFC Tonight, Tate fired back at Dana White and said she was bothered by White’s lack of confidence in her. (All quotes from official FOX Sports press release)
“I disagree. I don’t care what anyone thinks. I don’t plan on losing to Ronda a third time. It’s kind of offensive that he’s counting me out. It bothers me a little bit. He thinks what he thinks.”
Tate also took issue with the UFC not notifying her of the news ahead of time:
“I understand. They want to get the undefeated vs. undefeated. I’m not going to say from a business perspective it doesn’t make sense. But the problem I have with it is the UFC promised me a title fight leading up to my last fight. It was a title eliminator fight, and after winning the fight I was told I’d get the title shot. But then not finding out from the company and waking up to text messages. That was a little harder than them calling me up and telling me this is what just makes sense at the time. My manager is talking to them, but I haven’t talked to them personally.
She doesn’t have a fight booked as of yet, although there have been reports that she will face Amanda Nunes at a card TBD. Tate did express interest in fighting Cris Cyborg at some point, and also supports having Ronda Rousey vs. Cyborg at 140 lbs.
“Ronda is the champion, but so is Cyborg. They’re both dominant champions. To me it makes sense to meet at the middle.”
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