There are many people who would not be excited to see a third fight between Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate. Edmond Tarverdyan is not one of those people.
Rousey’s coach told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour that he is “excited” for the potential of a third fight between the two women. Tarverdyan said Rousey’s training camps for the first two fights were not great and he wants her to make an example of Tate this time.
“[Tate]’s been doing a bit better, it seems like for her,” Tarverdyan said. “But it’s cool. I like that fight. I’m real excited for that fight, actually. Because this time I’m going to make sure that Miesha Tate gets really punished and knows what she’s getting into. It’s not gonna be good for her career. She’s gonna get a lot of damage and I’m gonna make sure it’s not healthy for her career.”
Rousey (11-0) won the first two fights via armbar submission. The first one, when Rousey won the Strikeforce title in 2012, was done in the first round. Tate lasted until the third round the second time, at UFC 168 in December 2013. Tate is the only person to make it out of the first round with Rousey, who has won her last two fights in a combined 30 seconds.
Tarverdyan, though, said the Rousey’s training camps for both fights were lackluster. The first time, the coach said he almost made Rousey pull out due to an illness and fever. The second one, Rousey only did 40 days of hard training due to movie obligations.
“She’s just a lucky girl because of that,” Tarverdyan said of Tate. “This time, it’s going to be a totally different fight. Ronda’s improvement is just going to be too much for her. This girl is gonna get hurt in there. She’s not gonna know where she is. This time, she’s not gonna know where she is, for sure.”
Tate (17-5) has won four in a row and earned another title shot by beating Jessica Eye via unanimous decision at UFC on FOX 16 on Saturday night in Chicago. “Cupcake” and Rousey have a long history of bad blood. It all started when Rousey trash talked Tate, then the Strikeforce champion, en route to earning her first title shot. A year later, the two faced off as opposing coaches on The Ultimate Fighter 18 and the entire reality season was extremely combustible.
After beating Eye, Tate told people how much she enjoys punching her rival in the face. She has said in the past that if anyone is going to beat the undefeated Rousey, it’s going to be her.
Tarverdyan, though, doesn’t think that will happen if and when the two meet again. He’s looking forward to Rousey beating Tate even more definitively.
“I think she does deserve the title shot again,” he said. “And we’re ready. I like that fight. I do like that fight, because she’s still talking crap a little bit and she thinks making it into the third round with Ronda, she thinks she can do better now and go for a decision or something like that. She’s mistaken and we’ll be ready for that fight.”
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