Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey seem to be the new Rashad Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. They hate each other, and make it as obvious as possible at every opportunity. They had one of those opportunities just now.
The UFC is amidst their heavily-hyped world tour, and at their current stop in Los Angeles, California, the UFC brought together four of their champions (Ronda Rousey, Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones and Cain Velasquez) and their next opponents (Miesha Tate, Johny Hendricks, Alexander Gustafsson and Junior dos Santos).
As is customary, the fighters lined up for the face-to-face shots after they finished fielding questions, but while the other fighters all have a minimal level of bad blood between them, Rousey filled the event’s ill will quota with one finger.
As stated, Rousey and Tate have a very ugly rivalry these days. Rousey, a former Olympic bronze medalist in Judo, exploded into the mainstream sports world after taking Tate’s belt in August 2012 with a shocking first-round armbar. You wouldn’t know that Rousey was the one that won that fight, however, given her willingness to initiate conflict, and her constant barbs towards Tate (via Twitter).
“How is it not a rivalry? I have everything that she wants in life” –@RondaRousey on her conflict with Tate #TUF18#UFCWT
— UFC Canada (@UFC_CA) July 30, 2013
That said, while Rousey‘s insults get plenty of attention, Tate is no angel herself, and was involved in a well-documented incident where her much-hated boyfriend, Bryan Caraway, elbowed her at-the-time opponent, Cat Zingano, just hours before a fight.
She has also been known to get a bit physical at inappropriate times surrounding fights, including her controversial headbutting incident with Rousey back in August and her unsportsmanlike face-wipe of Zingano between rounds.
The two are slated to fight in December after coaching opposite each other during The Ultimate Fighter season 18.
While vocal contender Chael Sonnen and light heavyweight champion Jon Jones almost completely put aside their rivalry during TUF17, UFC President Dana White has assured fans that the coaches’ rivalry will dominate the season, and the trailer that debuted this weekend certainly backed that up.
We’ll see how things shake out between these two as the year goes on. It will almost certainly be as vitriolic as anything we’ve seen in MMA.
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