Miesha Tate is still pretty bitter about Ronda Rousey’s rise to prominence in Strikeforce and now the UFC. When the two fought for the first time on March 3, 2012, Tate had a career record of 12-2 while Rousey was just 4-0. Granted, all four of those wins came in 2011 and each took Rousey less than one minute to earn, but Tate is still sour grapes over how quickly Rousey was pushed and what she thinks are the actual reasons for her UFC 168 opponent’s success. Basically, Tate thinks that the undefeated UFC champion Rousey has gotten by on her personality.
In an interview with Fox Sports earlier this week, Tate talked about the real equality issue that women face in MMA – getting the same attention and regard that Rousey receives.
“Every single woman that fights MMA has done just as much work as Ronda has, we just haven’t gotten as much turnaround,” Tate told FOX Sports on Monday. “Those women who came before her haven’t been on magazine covers, they weren’t plastered everywhere by the UFC. They didn’t get the same reward back. She got 10 times back what she was putting in and maybe everyone else was getting 1 to 1.”
Counterpoint: She’s undefeated in her short MMA career and she has a personality as powerful as her armbar. People weren’t demanding that the UFC start a women’s division when Tate was the champ, because she’s nowhere near as exciting as Rousey is in terms of hyping her own fights. But let’s put the blame on the people who deserve it most…
“A lot of fans out there have the WWE mentality,” Tate said. “Those are the fans that fell hook line and sinker and loved her. She was that controversial one, that s**t talker, she started drama.”
Wait, sports fans were attracted to an athlete who not only wins a lot but showboats before, during and after doing so?
Wait, hold on, I’m told that while Tate was complaining about how Rousey used her talent, personality and looks to succeed in a sport that relies on at least two of those three things, she also admitted that she did it better than any of the other women that Tate was waving a flag for.
“She runs her mouth,” Tate said. “She’s very loud, very boisterous, very opinionated. Love her or hate her, you take notice of her. I think that’s the biggest thing. She’s different than most of the girls who fight in MMA.”
What’s best of all is that no matter what happens, one of these fighters is going to look foolish tomorrow night after their co-main event fight at UFC 168. Let’s just hope they don’t pull a Nick Diaz and admit it’s all for show after the fact.
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