(Props to MSN via MMAFighting for the video)
If you thought an interview putting hated rivals Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate shoulder-to-shoulder would have Chael Sonnen levels of excitement, you’d be wrong.
Despite the ferocity and abject hatred between the two fighters, Jon Anik‘s interview of the first-ever female Ultimate Fighter coaches didn’t produce anything memorable save for uncomfortable levels of awkwardness.
First of all, Rousey clearly didn’t want to be that close to Tate. She was also understandably upset about the fact that her two teammates Jessamyn Duke and Peggy Morgan just fought one another.
It only went downhill from there.
Once Anik asked Tate about Julianna Pena, Rousey essentially no-sold everything Tate said and stared vacantly into the distance. When Anik brought the mic back to the Olympian and asked her about Tate’s improvements as a fighter as well as her own improvements, Rousey answered with her usual candor but without her usual passion. She was honest but apathetic.
“The first time we fought it was less than a year since I’ve gone pro, and now I’m three years,” she said with a half-scowl on her face. It wasn’t Heidi Androl-death stare level but it was close. “I’m a more improved fighter since, I don’t think I’ve seen as good a performance from her since I won the title and she’s fought a few times since then.”
Rousey used a question about having advantages in the mind games department as a launching point to knock Tate. “I feel like I have so many advantages that it’s hard to say which one’s the biggest,” she said. When Anik turned around and asked Tate about the same topic, Rousey yawned.
To conclude the interview, Anik gave Rousey a chance to promote UFC 168. Her words, while true, had zero pep or enthusiasm to them; she was disinterested and it showed.
“Because women’s fighting is, I think, the most exciting in the UFC. This is the highest level of women’s fighting. And if you’re a fight fan you should see this.”
Anik wrapped up the interview by, strangely, promoting the rivalry as a friendship we weren’t going to see or look forward to (we were confused too).
“Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate…we look forward to not your friendship but getting in that Octagon…Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate, ladies and gentleman! Not friends right now and certainly will be adversaries on December 28th.”
Overall the whole interview was the most awkward we’ve seen in a while. But that wasn’t the only inelegant interview of the night. Rousey attended another that took place on the FOX Sports 1 post-event show. She admitted that she never watched a TUF 18 episode and was visibly perturbed. You can tell that she’s fed up with press and just wants to break arms already. But that’s fine, because we’d like to get to brass tacks too.