Former Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Sarah Kaufman has a bone to pick with Miesha Tate in light of her recent criticism of women’s MMA pioneer Gina Carano.
Tate has called a potential Carano vs. Ronda Rousey UFC championship bout “a mockery of women’s MMA” since Carano hasn’t fought since August 2009, per MMA Junkie.
Well, in Kaufman’s mind, that scenario is eerily similar to the one “Cupcake” was in when she got a shot at Rousey‘s belt at UFC 168 in December.
How’s carano getting a title shot after long layoff any different than @MieshaTate getting one after getting KOd? UFC wants to sell, miesha
— Sarah Kaufman (@mmasarah) May 6, 2014
Tate got a second crack at the “Rowdy” one at the end of last year despite suffering a TKO loss to Cat Zingano at The Ultimate Fighter 17 finale in April 2013.
Zingano was supposed to coach TUF 18 opposite Rousey as a result of the victory, but she had to withdraw from the show and the subsequent title fight after suffering an ACL tear, per USA Today.
Tate was pegged as a last-minute replacement, and although she is the only fighter to push Rousey past the first round, she still succumbed to the champ’s patented armbar in the third frame.
Kaufman, the No. 5 women’s fighter in the UFC’s official rankings, is riding a three-fight unbeaten streak and awaits an opponent for her next assignment in the cage.
Meanwhile, Tate is the No. 3 female women’s bantamweight in the world, according to the UFC, despite just a 2-3 mark in her past five fights.
In all fairness, two of those losses came to Rousey, and she scored a big win over fellow former UFC title challenger Liz Carmouche at UFC on FOX 11 last month.
Given the current landscape of the UFC women’s bantamweight division, would it make sense to have Kaufman and Tate settle their differences inside the Octagon sometime this fall?
John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
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