UFC fans have grown fond of the animosity that’s spawned between women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey and former Strikeforce standout Miesha Tate.
The Rousey-Tate rivalry will fully come to fruition when season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter—which will feature both men and women for the first time in show history—airs on Sept 4.
However, will the show’s most obviously intriguing variables get overshadowed by yet another juicy twist in TUF 18’s storyline?
Fans are downright antsy to witness drama ensue between “Rowdy” and Tate’s boyfriend and fellow UFC bantamweight, Bryan Caraway.
Caraway, one of Tate’s coaches on the show, initially ignited the feud in 2012 when he took to Twitter before his girlfriend’s fight with Rowdy at Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey to say the following:
And if she wants to challenge a man I’ll knock her teeth dwn her throat the(n) break her arm!
Rowdy has fired back on more than one occasion in response to several brash Twitter gestures from Caraway. During a Metro PCS chat in June, Rowdy upped the ante in the quarrel by saying:
People ask me this question all the time and it’s the same answer all the time—I would love to beat the s**t out of Bryan Caraway, but apparently it’s not legal. And he seems like the kind of b**tch that would sue me. Big time.
Rousey‘s disdain for Caraway will definitely provide an added incentive for the TUF viewers seeking the dramatic and the out of the ordinary. But it certainly won’t eclipse the grudge between Rowdy and Tate, or the importance of having men and women compete on the same TUF for the first time.
UFC president Dana White sounded off on the on-screen hatred between Rousey and Tate by saying the following to reporters following UFC 162:
They’re both going to look f**king crazy. You know why? They’re both f**king crazy. They bring the worst out in each other. I see Ronda interact with other fighters. Cat Zingano walked over to her tonight and hugged her and Ronda’s like ‘Oh my god how are you feeling? How long do you think it’s going to be till you get back?’ Look at her and Liz Carmouche. Her and Liz Carmouche loved each other, they were going to fight, they went out and tried to rip each other’s heads off.These two bring the absolute f**king worst out of each other. They both look like f**king lunatics.
Despite the theory that an ample amount of tension existed between male and female fighters on the show, Rousey denied the notion that the show turned out excessively sexual.
Instead, the UFC’s first female champ admitted during her interview with Metro PCS that TUF 18 ended up resembling more of an emotional roller coaster.
Surprisingly, it is much more professional than you would have thought. I wouldn’t say it’s an overly sexual season, but I think it’s a much more emotional one. So far, it’s tiring, and it’s every day. It’s been a very exciting season, but it has also been very taxing on everybody. So I think we’re all going to be very happy to get home, but I’m sure all the fans will be very happy with the result.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com