Blame game!
When Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced Miesha Tate would be defending her women’s bantamweight title at UFC 200, a good portion of the mixed martial arts (MMA) community wondered why Amanda Nunes got the nod over Holly Holm.
After all, with Ronda Rousey sidelined until further notice, a rematch against “The Preacher’s Daughter” was the next best thing in terms of dollars and cents sense.
“They tell me Tate chose (Nunes),” manager Lenny Fresquez revealed to Albuquerque Journal. “Holly was offered to her and she chose Nunes. She chose to take a weaker opponent. Holly gave her a chance. We’re pretty disappointed she didn’t return the favor.”
But don’t grab those pitchforks and torches just yet.
“They (UFC) thought that Amanda was the next best girl in line,” Tate told MMA Junkie. “They were like, ‘Look, you just beat Holly. You finished her.’ They didn’t feel that it was necessary to have an immediate rematch; it didn’t warrant an immediate rematch. It wasn’t one of those performances or such a crazy fight that we’ve got to have an immediate rematch.”
Think it’s messy now? Imagine what will happen with a Nunes win.
UFC 200, headlined by the Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor rematch, takes place on Sat., July 9, 2016, inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
See the latest UFC 200 fight card here.