Author: McKinley Noble

Miesha Tate Talks TUF 18 Stint vs. Rousey, Tells UFC Fans ‘Hate Me If You Want’

Former Strikeforce champion Miesha Tate isn’t concerned about her haters, and she’s making no apologies for her surprise title shot against Ronda Rousey.Despite losing her UFC debut, an injury to Cat Zingano gave Tate her shot at Rousey, along with a c…

Former Strikeforce champion Miesha Tate isn’t concerned about her haters, and she’s making no apologies for her surprise title shot against Ronda Rousey.

Despite losing her UFC debut, an injury to Cat Zingano gave Tate her shot at Rousey, along with a coaching role on The Ultimate Fighter.

And as “Cupcake” Tate tells MMA Junkie, she feels she deserved to replace Zingano, despite losing to her just a handful of weeks ago by technical knockout in what she called a controversial stoppage from referee Kim Winslow:

“People, hate me if you want to, but the fighter in me says I wasn’t finished,” Tate told MMAjunkie.com Radio. “I would have honestly rather the referee let it go and have her knock me out if that’s what was destined to be.”

“I did not expect this by any means after the loss to Cat, but I got it,” she said. “I get to fight Ronda again. Everyone knows that I want that. Everyone knows that we don’t like each other, and I think that makes for more interesting TV. It just feels right.”

During their three-round bout in The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale co-main event from April, a brutal TKO defeat temporarily halted Tate’s title hopes, as Zingano stunned her with knees to the face followed by a flurry of hard punches.

But as the replay later showed, the first blow looked to be potentially illegal, as Tate’s right hand was touching the canvas when Zingano‘s first knee hit—a violation of MMA‘s three-point contact rule against kneeing or kicking the head of a grounded opponent.

However, the sequence was debatable, along with the three-point contact rule commonly being seen by many MMA fans as a crafty way for wrestler-type fighters to shoot for takedowns while safely defending themselves if unsuccessful.

Regardless of the fight result, Zingano‘s torn anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus will sideline her for months to come as she recovers from surgery.

According to Yahoo Sports, UFC president Dana White has promised Zingano a title shot against the winner of Rousey vs. Tate.

But Tate isn’t the only one who thought that she deserved the next shot at Rousey‘s title, with fellow former Strikeforce champion Sarah Kaufman also claiming, via Twitter, that she “would’ve liked the call” to coach TUF 18‘s co-ed bantamweight season.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania and The L.A. Times.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Rousey vs. Tate: Sarah Kaufman Says She Wanted UFC Call for TUF 18 Coaching Spot

Although former Strikeforce champion Miesha Tate is coming off a loss in her UFC debut, “Cupcake” will nonetheless be the next challenger to face Ronda Rousey.But was Rousey vs. Tate the best option?Sarah Kaufman doesn’t seem to think so, and the Canad…

Although former Strikeforce champion Miesha Tate is coming off a loss in her UFC debut, “Cupcake” will nonetheless be the next challenger to face Ronda Rousey.

But was Rousey vs. Tate the best option?

Sarah Kaufman doesn’t seem to think so, and the Canadian fighter had something to say about it on Twitter, expressing shock at the announcement:

As noted in a surprise twist of fate on Tuesday (via UFC Tonight), Cat Zingano—the original No. 1 contender for the UFC women’s bantamweight title—had been pulled from Season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter due to an injured knee suffered in training.

With Zingano out, the UFC went to their back-up plan, drafting Tate as a last-minute replacement to coach opposite Rousey.

Tate’s presence on the show will revive a long-standing rivalry between herself and Rousey, with the added benefit of some valuable UFC star-treatment via Fox Sports and an assumed main event spotlight on a future pay-per-event.

However, Tate is also coming off a brutal TKO loss at the hands of Zingano, whereas Kaufman is coming off a “Fight of the Night” victory from her last bout at Invicta FC 5 last.

According to the official UFC rankings, Kaufman (No. 2) also outranks Tate (No. 3) in the women’s bantamweight division, although the difference between the two likely comes down to star power and their relative performances against Rousey.

To date, “Cupcake” Tate is still the only fighter to ever escape one of Rousey’s patented armbar submissions, being the only woman (at the time) to drag the champion past the four-minute mark of the first round.

Kaufman, however, didn’t perform nearly as well against “Rowdy”.

Just like fellow Strikeforce veterans Sarah D’alelio and Julia Budd, the normally submission-savvy Kaufman got caught by the former Olympian in just under a minute, tapping out to the champion’s dangerous armbar in a 54-second rout.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania and The L.A. Times.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC Confirms Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate with TUF 18 Staredown Photo

Everything has been made official by the UFC—Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate will coach Season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter while Cat Zingano recovers from surgery.UFC Tonight and Yahoo Sports first broke the initial news of the sudden …

Everything has been made official by the UFC—Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate will coach Season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter while Cat Zingano recovers from surgery.

UFC Tonight and Yahoo Sports first broke the initial news of the sudden and unexpected change in headliners, with the UFC confirming that the taping for the reality show will indeed feature one of the biggest rivalries in women’s MMA.

To say the least, it’s a curious trend that leaves quite a few questions.

Apparently, the UFC felt that Rousey and Tate’s rivalry would bring the most eyes to the show, with the promotion quickly going into hype mode via a staredown photo:

Notably, Tate will also be the fourth UFC fighter in 2013 to get a title shot while simultaneously coming off a loss, a distinction she now shares with Chael Sonnen, Nick Diaz and Frankie Edgar.

According to Yahoo Sports, Cat Zingano will lose her TUF 18 coaching spot, her title shot and six months off the calender as she recuperates from an injured right knee, although her most recent Twitter post shows a successful surgery.

Zingano suffered a “torn anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus” during training on May 16, although it was kept a secret from Rousey and the public by the UFC until filming began for TUF 18.

(According to the official UFC rankings, Zingano is technically the No. 1 contender to the title, while Tate is ranked at No. 3 in the women’s bantamweight division.)

Fellow former Strikeforce champion Sarah Kaufman is also higher-ranked than Tate, but she suffered a more recent loss via first-round armbar to Rousey in just 54 seconds of her very last Strikeforce bout in August 2012.

Regardless of all the changes, The Ultimate Fighter 18 is still making history as the first season in the show’s run to feature female coaches, in addition to being the first installment to feature a co-ed cast—male and female bantamweight fighters.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania and The L.A. Times.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Cat Zingano Injured, Miesha Tate Will Now Coach Opposite Ronda Rousey on TUF 18

Miesha “Cupcake” Tate will get her second shot at Ronda Rousey after all.According to UFC Tonight’s official Twitter account and the UFC, Cat Zingano—the No. 1 contender to the UFC women’s bantamweight title—has suffered an i…

Miesha “Cupcake” Tate will get her second shot at Ronda Rousey after all.

According to UFC Tonight‘s official Twitter account and the UFC, Cat Zingano—the No. 1 contender to the UFC women’s bantamweight title—has suffered an injury during training that will sideline her from coaching Season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter.

With Tate stepping in to fill the coaching gap, she will also get to challenge Rousey in a UFC title fight later this year.

Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole provided some additional context to the news, adding that Zingano’s injury to her right knee had been kept a secret since May 16—necessitating a change in headliners that Rousey is clearly happy to see:

“This is what we really wanted all along,” Rousey told Yahoo! Sports. “Everyone said an Ultimate Fighter between me and Miesha would be the best. We have a personal history with each other and this is a personal show. For some reason, me and Miesha are intertwined in fate like Ali and Frazier or something like that.

“I think people will look back at this as one of the monumental rivalries and look back at this as one of those things that really cemented women’s MMA.”

As Iole notes, Rousey was unaware of the change until the last minute.

Tate recounted her appearance on the set of TUF 18, stating that her rival had become “visibly angry” upon seeing her show up for filming at the TUF gym.

“It was rewarding to see that,” she said. “I was like, ‘Yay! This is getting good.’ I watched her go to her corner and her corner was up in arms. I was just sitting there in the doorway thinking, ‘This is awesome.’

“I felt I was cheated a little in that fight with Cat. I had two solid rounds and one not-so-good round. Either way, I felt I was meant to be here and it’s come full circle

This change in headliners is unusual, especially since Tate is just coming off a hard-fought loss via TKO against Zingano last April.

Zingano maintained her undefeated record and pulled off a major upset against Tate in the UFC’s second-ever women’s bout, catching the former Strikeforce champion with a knee to the face midway into the third round of the title eliminator fight.

Both women won a “Fight of the Night” performance for their efforts, a notable achievement in a dense card full of promising TUF prospects headlined by Urijah Faber.

Despite some controversy over the stoppage, Zingano was confirmed as the opposing TUF 18 coach against Rousey, with both fighters to be the first-ever female coaches on the first-ever co-ed season of the long-running reality show.

But with Zingano out, Tate will finally have a chance to avenge her March 2012 defeat to Rousey, which kickstarted one of the biggest rivalries in MMA to date.

Tate had briefly ruled over the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight division for just over seven months after taking the title away from Marloes Coenen, only to quickly lose it to Rousey by a first-round armbar submission defeat.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania and The L.A. Times.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Transgender MMA Fighter Fallon Fox Makes Weight, Ready for CFA 11 Bout

Despite an enormous amount of controversy, Fallon Fox is now officially set for her upcoming match at Championship Fighting Alliance 11.Fox (2-0) came in comfortably under the 145-pound limit (via Facebook), where she’ll face Allanna Jones (2-1) during…

Despite an enormous amount of controversy, Fallon Fox is now officially set for her upcoming match at Championship Fighting Alliance 11.

Fox (2-0) came in comfortably under the 145-pound limit (via Facebook), where she’ll face Allanna Jones (2-1) during the CFA 11 women’s featherweight tournament semifinals.

In addition to Fox vs. Jones, the event also features Strikeforce and Bellator veterans, including former UFC fighter Mike Kyle, facing late replacement Travis Wiuff.

Kyle was originally scheduled to fight Valentijn Overeem, but that bout was scrapped shortly after Overeem injured himself during training (via MMA Mania).

CFA 11 Main Card

• Mike Kyle vs. Travis Wiuff
• Fallon Fox vs. Allanna Jones
• Luis Palomino vs. Robert Washington
• Elvin Brito vs. Sean Soriano
• Czar Sklavos vs. Alexis Vila
• Oscar Delgado vs. Mike King

Media attention around the event has dramatically spiked since Fox came out as the sport’s first openly male-to-female transgender athlete, brought to the public eye in an ESPN profile piece by veteran MMA journalist Loretta Hunt.

Several prominent names have negatively responded to Fox’s decision to compete in the women’s division, including Joe Rogan, heavyweight Matt Mitrione (via The MMA Hour) and UFC champion Ronda Rousey (via The New York Post).

Moreover, the controversial fighter also gained a PR black eye last April, when Australian star Bec Hyatt detailed a heated confrontation at Invicta FC 5.

According to sources with knowledge of the event, Fox was trespassing at the Kansas City-based all women’s MMA promotion, reportedly threatening Hyatt and other female fighters while being asked to leave by the Invicta FC staff.

That kind of press may follow Fox throughout the CFA 11 women’s 145-pound tournament, where the eventual winner will earn both a championship belt and a $20,000 prize.

CFA 11 takes place on May 24 at the BankUnited Center in Coral Gables, Florida, with the card to be broadcast at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT on AXS TV.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania and The L.A. Times.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Roy Nelson Says He’ll ‘Never’ Fight for a Title, UFC Wants JDS to Beat Mark Hunt

Unlikely as it may seem, Mark Hunt is starring in the UFC 160 co-main event against former champion Junior dos Santos, just a step away from a title shot.But is the promotion playing favorites?That’s what Roy Nelson told Bloody Elbow’s Stephanie Daniel…

Unlikely as it may seem, Mark Hunt is starring in the UFC 160 co-main event against former champion Junior dos Santos, just a step away from a title shot.

But is the promotion playing favorites?

That’s what Roy Nelson told Bloody Elbow‘s Stephanie Daniels in a recent interview, where the Ultimate Fighter Season 10 winner talked about various aspects of his relationship with the UFC, which has definitely been “strained” at best.

Moreover, “Big Country” states that he’ll “never” fight for the title due to politics, while the heavyweight title picture is so narrowly-focused that UFC is betting on Hunt to lose:

I think they’re business people. That’s why Chael fought last month. They don’t want Mark Hunt to win. They want Junior dos Santos to fight Cain Velasquez again. It just makes sense on paper. That fight can make a lot of money. When Overeem got beat by Bigfoot, that kind of messed some things up.

I make money no matter who I fight. Do I want a shot at the belt? Yes, of course I do. Put it this way, I am Barry Sanders on the Detroit Lions. You love to watch me, but you’ll never see me play in the Super Bowl. It’s just one of those things. It’s about politics. It’s not about fighting.

Nelson’s UFC career has had its ups and downs both inside and outside the Octagon, but it’s hard to see him denied a title shot if he keeps winning.

Out of the entire heavyweight roster, Nelson is one of only two fighters with at least three-straight UFC wins on his record.

More impressively, all three of those wins have been first-round knockout victories, two of which resulted in “Knockout of the Night” awards for Big Country.

Hunt has been just as efficient with his own career resurgence, rattling off four straight wins against Stefan Struve, Cheick Kongo, Ben Rothwell and Chris Tuchscherer—not to mention two “Knockout of the Night” bonuses to boot.

However, both men may see their streaks come to a close.

While Hunt faces his toughest task yet in JDS this Saturday, future opposition for Nelson won’t get him closer to title contention, as he’s slated to fight Stipe Miocic at UFC 161 (via MMA Fighting).

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania and The L.A. Times.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com