Just like the rest of the spectators on UFC 193, Miesha Tate thought Holly Holm didn’t stand a chance on winning against former MMA women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.
“It was a pretty shocking victory, honestly. Holly surprised me. But I think she had the perfect game, she went out there and she executed flawlessly. She looked phenomenal. I’m all about styles make fights and she has the style to beat Ronda. She is Ronda’s kryptonite and she executed it perfectly,” Tate said during a recent interview on Inside MMA.
There were a lot of theories behind Rousey’s loss– her other commitments with Hollywood, the drama with her training camp, her personal life being exposed. Dana White, the president of the UFC, has revealed that Rousey admitted she was exhausted heading into the fight. Miesha, however, said she is not sure what exactly happened that caused the loss.
“Maybe it was everything else with the leadup. I’m now hearing that there’s a lot of personal issues. It just seemed like maybe Ronda was distracted a little bit. But I feel like Ronda has always had a lot on her plate. She’s always had a lot going on. I don’t think it’s ever a perfect training situation for anybody going into a fight, especially a title fight. They’re longer camps and there’s more demand for media and all those things. I think that’s just the way Ronda is used to dealing with things. I don’t know if there was really anything different this time other than she just didn’t seem like herself,” Tate said.
Tate, who was supposed to go against Rousey instead of Holm, admitted that she was very upset when the UFC gave her spot to the pro-boxing champ. It was reported that the UFC promised her that she will be the one who will fight Rousey next, but the plan was changed. “Cupcake” admitted that she even planned to retire if the promotion didn’t make things right for her. Now that Rousey has lost, it looks like Tate is going in a different direction. She said that with Holm winning over the former MMA bantamweight champ, it opens up a lot of opportunities not just for her, but for the other fighters as well. Tate said that she is hoping she can fight Holly while Ronda is taking the time off and recover.
“I think we’re probably looking at like a nine-month layoff. I don’t think it makes sense to hold up the entire women’s division for nine months. I figure if Holly and I fought each other, it’s a win-win for the UFC, because if Holly beats me then she’s beaten the girl that’s, besides her, given Ronda a run for her money. And if I beat Holly, then I’m on a five-fight win streak and I beat the girl that destroyed Ronda,” she said.
Tate thinks that the UFC might not be open to this kind of arrangement though. But with the sudden change of things, she admitted that she is more hopeful than ever.
“I think it’s gonna be entirely different now and the women’s division has been turned upside down,” she said.