Miesha Tate lost her title and bone continuity in her arm on Saturday night, but she scored a major victory for professional women’s MMA and MMA in general.
Tate was trying to defend her Strikeforce women’s bantamweight title against Ronda Rousey. The two went on an aggressive promotional campaign to hype the bout. And they did a tremendous job of hyping it.
As the match drew closer, so did their contempt for each other. That much was evident at the weigh-in when Tate got in Rousey’s face, and the “Rowdy” one head-butted her.
The pre-fight drama raised the anticipation for this match to new levels. A lot of eyes were drawn to this fight that had never been exposed to women’s professional MMA.
These two fighters had the pressure to put on a compelling bout, or all of these new eyes and interest were going to come away with a less than enthusiastic view of the sport.
These two did not disappoint. This was a back-and-forth fight until Rousey got the advantage with a judo hip-flip. She turned that in to a little ground-and-pound until working into a position to get Tate into an armbar.
Once in the armbar, Tate was done. She was not going to escape it, as that is the very position Rousey has used to win all of her matches.
Tate was not going to give in easily, though. She did not tap out until her arm was mangled into directions it was not supposed to go. Her arm was broken.
And in this process, it was shown without a doubt how competitive, talented and tough as nails women’s MMA is. I’d be shocked if there was a person that witnessed this fight would say that it was not entertaining, or came away with nothing but respect for these fierce competitors.
Tate may not like it, but her loss is a win for women’s MMA.
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