Despite a lengthy and ongoing lay-off, Ronda Rousey remains at the number two spot of the UFC’s official rankings in the women’s bantamweight division. And with almost a year since she last stepped inside the Octagon, “Rowdy” remains uncertain about when her comeback date would be.
For her part, Amanda Nunes had already picked Rousey as her next challenger. According to the current champion, her maiden title defense “has to be against” the former champion, since she deems it to be the best move for her.
Rousey has already been reportedly offered a fight against Nunes for UFC 207 on December 30th, but nothing has come to fruition. As far as the matchup goes, many believe Nunes’ advantage on the feet could be a lot for Rousey to handle. But for former champion Miesha Tate, it will all boil down to her former rival’s current mindset on fighting, which she believes had been greatly affected by the loss to Holly Holm.
“I feel like there’s so many weird variables, it’s really, really hard to say, because who knows what we’re going to get out of Ronda when she comes back,” Tate said during Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “If we’re getting Ronda at the best that she’s ever been, then I’d say Ronda (would win the fight).”
“But if we’re getting Ronda coming back with a half-ass mentality, kind of like ‘I just feel like I have to do this one time,’ and then she’s got a lot of ring rust and maybe she’s still punch-shy since she hasn’t fought since Holly, and we all saw that obviously Amanda has incredible power with her right hand. So if she hits Ronda with one of those, I could see it being a huge problem for Ronda. A big, big problem.”
Tate faces Raquel Pennington at UFC 205 on November 12th in New York City.