LAS VEGAS — If you ask Miesha Tate the question—the one question everybody wants to ask—she’ll give you an honest answer.
“Do you want to fight Ronda Rousey again?,” you ask.
Of course she does. The answer is yes and will always be yes, because Tate and Rousey are linked, bound together for as long as they both shall fight.
It was Rousey who used Tate to springboard her way to stardom by first verbally assaulting her and then physically repeating the process by submitting her to win the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight championship.
It was Rousey who shrewdly used Tate as a target, which helped change Dana White‘s mind about women fighting in the UFC. Today, there are two female weight classes in the UFC; without Rousey and Tate, there might not be one.
And it was Tate who gave Rousey someone to hate—and not just in the way we’re told UFC opponents typically hate each other. For reasons Tate has never been able to explain, Rousey‘s hatred of her went far past the usual promotional tactics employed by fighters. When the pair served as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter, Rousey routinely sent obscene gestures Tate’s way, even when the cameras were off.
“She was incredibly rude even when the cameras weren’t on. She would walk up to me out of nowhere and raise both middle fingers in my face,” Miesha told Bleacher Report during a 2013 interview. “But I wasn’t going to play into it. I just smiled at her.”
Rousey would beat Tate, again by armbar, last December. But two losses to Rousey have not deterred Tate, who clearly would like another chance to win championship gold from her rival.
First, she must get past a stern test in former Olympic wrestler Sara McMann, who Tate faces on the preliminary card of Saturday’s UFC 183 event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. If she beats McMann, she’d like to face the talkative Brazilian prospect Bethe Correia, who has executed a storyline of her own in dispatching Rousey‘s “Four Horsewomen” teammates.
The winner of that fight, Tate believes, would be in line for a shot at Rousey. And despite two losses to the champion, Tate believes the fight is still a promotable one—and also believes that she still has the best chance of any fighter currently on the UFC roster of beating Rousey.
“I think any fighter can be beat. I think the confidence Ronda brings into the Octagon, a lot of people buy into it. She’s proven herself time and time again,” Tate says during a Monday media lunch at the UFC offices.
“But at some point, if you’re going to step in the Octagon with her, you have to say ‘I know I can beat her.’ Not just ‘I think I can beat her.’ You have to have the same confidence that she walks in with. I can safely say that I know I can beat Ronda. It is a very tough fight for me. But I’ve been able to do things that no one else can do.”
The two losses to Rousey have been difficult for Tate, but she also sees the bright side.
“I like fighting Ronda. My goal is to be a better fighter and to be the best person I can be, and she pushes me to do both,” Tate says. “So every time I get a chance to step in there with her, she has a way of pulling the best out of me. That’s what I’m here to do.”
First, she’ll need to get past McMann, who has been installed as a 2-1 favorite by oddsmakers, via bestfightodds.com.
McMann‘s wrestling pedigree is her greatest strength, but Tate is hoping to keep the fight standing, where she believes she has a distinct edge in striking. But Tate isn’t looking to just keep the fight standing, on her own terms; she’ll look to smother McMann, to keep her as uncomfortable as possible. And if McMann does look for takedowns, Tate plans on making her pay.
“When a dog poops on the carpet, you don’t give it a biscuit. You spank it and put it outside,” Tate says with a laugh. “If she shoots in, and I don’t stop her and make her pay for it, then what’s to stop her from just relentlessly shooting in and wrestling until she gets me down?”
Tate and longtime boyfriend Bryan Caraway were once known as gym nomads, traveling around the United States in search of training but rarely putting in extensive time with any particular team.
But over the last year, Tate and Caraway have settled in Las Vegas and made it their home. They are in the midst of buying a home out near the mountains. And they are helping lead a revival of the team at Xtreme Couture, a gym that fell on hard times in recent years as all of its professional fighters departed for greener pastures.
Gray Maynard, one of the longest-tenured athletes at Couture’s, is back in the gym. And a crop of up-and-coming professional and amateur prospects crowds into the gym each evening for pro practice.
Tate and Caraway have opened their home to other fighters who want to be part of the new Xtreme Couture movement; the couple currently provide space for six of their teammates in their three-bedroom house.
It is not about the money; Tate and Caraway are financially stable and could afford the old and new houses on their own. It is about giving back in the same way they were given an opportunity when they were broke and hungry. The couple lived in a 22-foot RV on Dennis Hallman’s property for two years because they couldn’t afford to rent an apartment and commit themselves to training full time.
“The point of it is that we want to give these young, hungry fighters a chance to pursue their dreams, because we had people doing that for us when we were poor,” Tate says. “We want to return the favor and extend the offer to other young fighters who are coming up.”
Tate credits Robert Follis, the Xtreme Couture head coach, and gym manager Eric Nicksick for the change in fortunes. In the old days of Xtreme Couture, back when the gym was filled with UFC superstars, the atmosphere was one of slight selfishness. Athletes were concerned about themselves, concerned with what the gym could do for them. There were high-profile stars, but it was not a team. Not really.
Things are different now. It is easy to believe Tate when she says they have a close-knit team. At a recent World Series of Fighting event held at Planet Hollywood, Xtreme Couture athletes—professional and amateur—turned out en masse to support their teammates fighting on the preliminary card.
That team atmosphere is attracting other high-level athletes like middleweight Uriah Hall, who conducted his last training camp in the gym because he liked the way everybody turned out to support each other.
The sense of community and family and the relationships being built in the gym give Tate peace in her daily life and in her training, which translates to confidence. And despite two losses to Rousey, Tate speaks with conviction when she says she has the tools to beat the champion. She also says she wouldn’t be happy if her career ended without another Rousey fight.
“Yeah, I don’t think I would be content without it,” Tate says. “That is a huge motivator for me. But it’s more about the gold for me. That has been my motivation since Day 1. Rousey has only been part of my career for half of it. But she adds a unique motivator that nobody else has been able to provide.”
All quotes were obtained firsthand.
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