The UFC’s four biggest champions – Cain Velasquez, Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre and Ronda Rousey – and their next opponents appeared in Los Angeles yesterday as part of the promotion’s whirlwind UFC World Tour to drum up press and publicity for the upcoming title fights, and everyone basically did their parts. But building the brand better than anyone was UFC Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey, who continued to remind people that she really, sincerely hates Miesha Tate, who also happens to be her opposing coach on the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter.
If this is just another case of two UFC rivals building some hype to sell a fight, both Rousey and Tate are doing a fantastic job, because Rousey’s one-finger salute as the two parted ways yesterday makes me so anxious for TUF 18. But despite Rousey’s belief that she will always have her rival’s number, Tate strongly believes the opposite.
“Part of it is realizing and admitting it was a problem,” Tate said. “I fought completely wrong. But now I compare it to being an addict, where the first step is admitting I had a problem with it.”
Tate said that on “The Ultimate Fighter” and at Tuesday’s event she has noticed the barbs she’s directed at Rousey seem to affect the champion.
“The tides are turning,” Tate said. “She was never bothered by the things I said in the past, but now she is. The bottom line is everyone is beatable.”
On stage Tuesday, Rousey said her rivalry with Tate has a rhythm that’s driven by the fact, “I have everything she wants in life.”
Answered Tate, “She has a lot of things I want, but her level of disrespect … she has a way of irritating me and vice versa. It’s a personal thing.” (Via the Los Angeles Times)
Of course, when Rousey and Tate took the stage, the event turned into an episode of Married with Children, as every bro in the house treated it like the opening number of the Miss Hooters Pageant. The women’s fighters are making great strides with entertaining, exciting fights and staredowns, but good lord some UFC fans need to grow up.
(Banner via MMA Warriors, video via Cage Potato)