If you thought you were surprised to wake up on Friday morning and hear that Ronda Rousey will defend her UFC women’s bantamweight championship against Holly Holm on Jan. 2, imagine how Miesha Tate must have felt.
Tate, the former Strikeforce champion, had been publicly named as the next challenger for Rousey’s title on several occasions by UFC president Dana White over the past month. She found out otherwise on Friday when Rousey announced the Holm fight on “Good Morning America.”
Now Tate has broken her silence on the matter, speaking to MMAFighting.com on Friday afternoon.
“I am extremely disappointed how all the events unfolded this morning regarding news that I will not be fighting Ronda Rousey,” Tate said through manager Josh Jones.
According to Tate, she had already begun training for the Rousey trilogy fight she thought was coming her way.
“I was told after my last win that I had earned the title shot,” Tate said. “I’ve already begun training for Rousey and I was shocked to hear the announcement this morning. I regret this for not only myself, but my team, sponsors and the fans who like me believed my next fight was for the title.”
Tate declined comment when asked what she wants to do next, now that she no longer has the Rousey bout.