Miesha Tate won’t ever get a chance to avenge her losses towards Ronda Rousey, however possibly she will train a few of these demons by means of one other Olympic-level judoka.
Tate discovered ‘Rowdy’ twice in her profession, as soon as below the Strikeforce banner and one other contained in the Octagon in 2013. Tate misplaced each bouts by way of armbar earlier than lastly climbing to the highest of the bantamweight mountain, choking out Holly Holm —the fighter who ended Rousey’s title reign and undefeated run 4 months prior — to change into a UFC champion for the primary and solely time in her profession.
It appeared like the celebrities had aligned for a Tate vs. Rousey trilogy battle.
Sadly, it by no means got here to fruition.
‘Rowdy’ would solely battle as soon as extra contained in the Octagon, struggling an particularly brutal first-round knockout loss towards Amanda Nunes earlier than calling it quits on her fight sports activities profession.
By no means to have an opportunity at redemption, Rousey’s retirement left a foul style in Tate’s mouth, however now, ‘Cupcake’ could have one other alternative to indicate what she will do towards a judoka with two-time Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison working roughshod by means of the division.
“I’ve desperately needed to indicate how a lot better I can do now towards a judoka than ever,” Tate advised MMA Combating after going through Rousey, an Olympic bronze medalist in judo. “As a result of I did lose these first two matches to Ronda, and I simply didn’t perceive it. I’ve a wholly totally different teaching workers now. I’ve individuals who actually can mimic somebody who has a judo background when at the moment after I was going through Ronda, it was not possible to seek out girls who have been high-level in judo but in addition OK with me punching them within the face as I’m making an attempt to not get thrown.
“I couldn’t discover it. I did prepare with some males, however the males weren’t as slick as Ronda. There have been much more about muscling issues. So since that second in time, I’ve been] making an attempt to be a lot better at [judo]. I really feel like I lastly have the instruments. So at any level, even when it’s not for a title battle, I do assume it could be nice to battle Kayla Harrison.”
Miesha Tate desirous to show she will beat a judoka contained in the Octagon
Coming off a giant win over Julia Avila in December 2023, Tate will return to the Octagon this Saturday at UFC Des Moines for a scrap with Yana Santos. If ‘Cupcake’ makes it two-in-a-row, she may discover herself with a prime 10 rating and one very massive step nearer to a possible conflict with Harrison.
“Kayla is a really revered judoka,” Tate stated. “She’s obtained comparable credentials to Ronda. She’s her personal fighter, she’s her personal individual. It wouldn’t be as candy as vindicating these two losses to Ronda, nevertheless, it could be an incredible second and I’d take that.
“I’d take satisfaction in individuals saying you recognize what, I feel Miesha was proper. She was in a position to again up what she stated and she or he did study rather a lot about judo and she or he was in a position to beat Kayla Harrison and sure in the event that they ever had that third battle, she’d beat Ronda, too.”
A two-time PFL champion, Harrison will look so as to add UFC gold to her assortment when she challenges reigning bantamweight queen Julianna Pena at UFC 316 on June 7. Will probably be Pena’s first time defending the title since touchdown a extremely controversial break up resolution W over Raquel Pennington in October.
