After her bout with Amanda Nunes at UFC 200, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate wants her trilogy match with Ronda Rousey at Madison Square Garden.
Miesha Tate’s first defense of her UFC women’s bantamweight title will be on the big UFC 200 card, as she faces Brazil’s Amanda Nunes. Tate won the title from Holly Holm in dramatic fashion, submitting Holm with a rear-naked choke in the final round of a fight which would’ve seen Holm retain her belt with at least a draw on the scorecards.
While Dana White said that Tate would fight Ronda Rousey next, Rousey’s not expected to return until November, so Tate is instead fighting Nunes, who is the #4 ranked contender in the division.
At the UFC 200 press conference, Tate expressed her interest in not only fighting Rousey for a third time, but doing so at the UFC’s debut event in Madison Square Garden (on November 12th).
“I think everything happens for a reason,” Tate said. “I told everybody I was going to beat Holly and I did, and I’m going to beat Amanda on the 9th, and I’m going to go on, and hopefully I’m going to see Ronda in Madison Square Garden. That’s going to be great.” (via MMA Fighting)
Tate is 0-2 vs. Rousey, losing once in Strikeforce and once in the UFC, both times by armbar. Prior to Holm’s KO win over Ronda, Tate was the only fighter to make it into the 2nd round with the former champion.
According to Dana White, Rousey’s comeback will be for the title, whether it’s Tate or Nunes who has the belt. While he didn’t commit to saying it specifically, he did confirm that Rousey is “part of the discussion” to be featured at UFC 205 in New York City.