CHICAGO — Ready or not, Miesha Tate is getting another title shot.
UFC president Dana White confirmed Saturday night that Tate will get the next shot at the UFC women’s bantamweight title, after she won her fourth consecutive fight with a dominant victory over Jessica Eye.
“She keeps coming forward to land what she has to land, or get you to the ground to do what she has to in order to win,” White said at the UFC on FOX 16 post-fight press conference at United Center. “She did it again, tonight. She’s worked her way back to Ronda Rousey.”
White, like most, seems to be looking past Rousey’s UFC 190 title defense against Bethe Correia next weekend in Brazil. But while Tate could end up fighting either, its tempting to look forward to a Rousey trilogy fight.
That goes for Tate, too.
“I love punching Ronda in the face,” Tate said.
Tate has distinguished herself as the second-most popular women’s fighter in the UFC and second-best in the division. Rousey, of course, has been her foil. She beat Tate to win what was then the Stikeforce belt back in 2012, then won their highly hyped rematch at UFC 168, losing in the third round in what was the toughest challenge of Rousey’s reign.
After Rousey finished Tate, much was made about Rousey’s refusal to shake Tate’s hand.
“I mean it’s just Ronda, its just something you have to accept,” Tate said. “I didn’t really expect her to do it, but its my choice to extend my hand. I think that’s an important part of the sport, and we have many bigger differences than that. “
Of course, there’s always the chance Correia beats Rousey. Tate says whoever her opponent is, winning the championship is the biggest goal.
“I mean, a bigger goal for me would be a win over Ronda, but in the big picture, my biggest goal is getting gold,” Tate said. “I want to say before I retire that I was the UFC world champion, so at the end of the day it doesn’t matter who has the belt. That’s the biggest goal.”