Rousey Comments On Losing To Holm At Reebok’s Luncheon For Inspirational Women

While at Reebok’s Luncheon for Inspirational Women event this week, former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey spoke about her first ever MMA loss to Holly Holm back at UFC 193 in November of 2015.

According to Rousey, while it’s hard to …

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While at Reebok’s Luncheon for Inspirational Women event this week, former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey spoke about her first ever MMA loss to Holly Holm back at UFC 193 in November of 2015.

According to Rousey, while it’s hard to accept on an emotional level, she feels her loss to Holm will end up being “the best thing that ever happened” to her.

Rousey stated the following about her loss to Holm while at the event (via InsideHalton.com):

“When it comes to challenges, I honestly believe that things happen for a reason. At the time yes it’s hard on a personal, emotional level and it’s hard to look past what’s happening to the future, but you have to believe in yourself because down the line in two, five, 10 years’ time you’ll look back and think that was actually the best thing that ever happened to me.

“Every single setback it’s not the end of the world, it’s just the beginning of that lesson. That had to happen for me to learn these certain things and it’s not about being completely infallible, it’s about getting better and there’s no room for improvement in perfect.”

Rousey has vowed to make her Octagon return before the end of the 2016 calendar year, and with her longtime rival Miesha Tate beating Holly Holm in “The Preacher’s Daughter’s” first title defense to become the new UFC Women’s 135-pound champion, Rousey-Tate III is expected upon Rousey’s return.

Miesha Tate’s World Has “Completely Turned Upside Down” Since Besting Holly Holm

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UFC female bantamweight champion Miesha Tate likely had no idea what was about to transpire when she submitted Holly Holm to win the belt.

Tate, already a popular figure in female MMA, has skyrocketed since that win.

“My world has completely turned upside down for the better,” she said, during an appearance on UFC Tonight. “It’s been amazing. I’ve gotten so much love and happiness. People have been following my story for a long time and they know there’s been so much adversity.

“It’s been a 10-year journey. People are loving with me and that feels great.”

Tate (18-5) has now won five straight fights since a 2013 submission loss to Ronda Rousey. That includes decisions over Jessica Eye, Sara McMann and Liz Carmouche.

Currently, no plans have been released regarding who Tate will defend her belt against first, but “Cupcake” knows there will be no easy defenses.

“What I’ve decided as a champ, I can have the mentality to fight anyone at any time,” she said. “There are so many top contenders now – Ronda, Holly, Amanda (Nunes), Julianna Pena, they’re all solid competition. It’s not my job as a champ to pick a fight, it’s to fight whoever they put in front of me.

“I’d like to stay active as a champion and not wait until November. I’d like to defend the belt and continue to prove why I’m the best in the world.”

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UFC female bantamweight champion Miesha Tate likely had no idea what was about to transpire when she submitted Holly Holm to win the belt.

Tate, already a popular figure in female MMA, has skyrocketed since that win.

“My world has completely turned upside down for the better,” she said, during an appearance on UFC Tonight. “It’s been amazing. I’ve gotten so much love and happiness. People have been following my story for a long time and they know there’s been so much adversity.

“It’s been a 10-year journey. People are loving with me and that feels great.”

Tate (18-5) has now won five straight fights since a 2013 submission loss to Ronda Rousey. That includes decisions over Jessica Eye, Sara McMann and Liz Carmouche.

Currently, no plans have been released regarding who Tate will defend her belt against first, but “Cupcake” knows there will be no easy defenses.

“What I’ve decided as a champ, I can have the mentality to fight anyone at any time,” she said. “There are so many top contenders now – Ronda, Holly, Amanda (Nunes), Julianna Pena, they’re all solid competition. It’s not my job as a champ to pick a fight, it’s to fight whoever they put in front of me.

“I’d like to stay active as a champion and not wait until November. I’d like to defend the belt and continue to prove why I’m the best in the world.”

Manny Pacquiao Wants Cris Cyborg On UFC 198

UFC history seems to be repeating itself on a frequent basis lately, one example of this is the situation with Nate Diaz and UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor. Not only in the form of them rematching at UFC 200, but the similarities with another hype train in the lead up to the last landmark pay-per-view

The post Manny Pacquiao Wants Cris Cyborg On UFC 198 appeared first on LowKick MMA.

UFC history seems to be repeating itself on a frequent basis lately, one example of this is the situation with Nate Diaz and UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor. Not only in the form of them rematching at UFC 200, but the similarities with another hype train in the lead up to the last landmark pay-per-view card. Yes, McGregor was meant to beat Diaz at UFC 196, as was Brock Lesnar against Frank Mir. In a carbon copy of the last biggest cash cows for the promotion (Lesnar), ‘The Notorious’ will get a second try at Diaz at the monster UFC 200, like the WWE champion did against Mir at UFC 100.

One piece of much more recent mixed martial arts history that seems to be playing in a loop is that of Invicta FC featherweight champion Cris Cyborg. The tough Brazilian striker has been appealing for years to fight her rival Ronda Rousey in the UFC octagon, but a number of political, weight and money related issues have hindered her joining the promotion.

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A failed drug test in 2011 saw Justino stripped of her Strikeforce featherweight belt, and provided more than ample ammo for ‘Rowdy’ to use in bashing the Brazilian’s character. In fact, Rousey’s opinion of Cyborg has actually played a massive role in the UFC avoiding the Invicta queen joining the Zuffa clan. That, and the fact Tito Ortiz used to be her manager, and the argument of which weight the two would fight at. Now that Rousey has been dethroned and the belt has changed hands from Holly Holm to Miesha Tate, it’s a whole different ball game.

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Now that the women’s bantamweight gates are finally wide open, in a way we’ve never seen before, Cris Cyborg is once again rallying for a place on a UFC pay-per-view card. She was heavily rumoured to be fighting at UFC 193 last year, but UFC president Dana White shot down those tales in short order.

Seemingly looking for some support, Cyborg has gone to some interesting lengths in the last 24 hours. Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao is now on the campaign trail for Justino.

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Miesha Tate Won’t Wait Around For Ronda Rousey To Return

Miesha Tate knows that as the new UFC women’s bantamweight champion, a third match-up with her longtime rival and former champion Ronda Rousey is most likely an inevitability. However, after submitting Holly Holm in the co-main event of March 5’s UFC 196, Tate is looking to stay active, and she’s not exactly sure Rousey has

The post Miesha Tate Won’t Wait Around For Ronda Rousey To Return appeared first on LowKick MMA.

Miesha Tate knows that as the new UFC women’s bantamweight champion, a third match-up with her longtime rival and former champion Ronda Rousey is most likely an inevitability.

However, after submitting Holly Holm in the co-main event of March 5’s UFC 196, Tate is looking to stay active, and she’s not exactly sure Rousey has the same plan based on her devastating knockout loss to Holm last November.

Speaking during a media scrum in Brisbane, Australia, for this weekend’s UFC Fight Night 85, Tate revealed that she would rather fight at least one more time before Rousey conceivably returns in October or November, and it may even be as soon as July’s blockbuster UFC 200 (quotes via FOX Sports):

“That is a long time to wait. I have had eight months off before. Ideally I want to fight before then. I have been tossing around the idea if possible of fighting at UFC 200. I don’t know what the UFC has in mind for that. It may not be realistic.”

As for just whom ‘Cupcake’ might face next, she said she’s already been targeted by the entire top half of the division, and that understandably includes a request for a rematch from Holm. But with top-ranked contenders like Amanda Nunes and a returning Cat Zingano, who toppled Tate via TKO in their first respective UFC bout in April 2013, the next women’s 135-pound title fight is still very much unknown.

No matter whom it is, however, Tate said she is ready and will stay ready:

“I have been called out by everyone who is in the top six. The champion should take on whoever they say is next and whoever has earned that position. I don’t really care. They are all gunning for me and are all dangerous. My job as a champion is to stay active. I don’t want to be the one to say who fights who. I don’t want to be fixated on one person.”

Tate seems to be carrying the mindset of a true champion; one that knows her division is suddenly wide-open after being dominated for so long by a former champion who may or may not be motivated to even participate in one more UFC fight.

And even though she may not be considered the true champ by some until she finally defeats Rousey, the fact is right now it’s Tate who is motivated to take on any and all top-ranked female bantamweights in the world.

You can watch her full interview courtesy of Submission Radio right here:

The post Miesha Tate Won’t Wait Around For Ronda Rousey To Return appeared first on LowKick MMA.

Miesha Tate Claims She Doesn’t Owe Holly Holm A Rematch For UFC Title

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While speaking with reporters in Australia ahead of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 85 event in Brisbane, UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Miesha Tate shared her belief that she doesn’t owe former champion Holly Holm a remat…

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https://youtu.be/OpuByQAy36k

While speaking with reporters in Australia ahead of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 85 event in Brisbane, UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Miesha Tate shared her belief that she doesn’t owe former champion Holly Holm a rematch.

Tate spoke with the media prior to the event, which features Frank Mir vs. Mark Hunt in the main event, and revealed that she would like to compete on the landmark UFC 200 event scheduled for July 9th.

“I’ve been kind of tossing around the idea if it would be possible to fight at UFC 200. That would be awesome, but I really have no idea what the UFC has in mind for that. I think they already have a couple of title fights, so it may not be realistic. But I’ll stay ready for that, if that’s something that becomes an option or available, then great. If not then we’ll see what comes next.”

Tate, who claimed that she doesn’t necessarily owe Holly Holm a rematch for the title she just lost at UFC 196 earlier this month, spoke about the fact that as the new champion, she has everyone in the division gunning for her.

“I know that there’s a lot of really top contenders, a lot of girls in the division, that are really chomping at the bit. I think I’ve been called out by probably everybody in the top-6, if not potentially the top-10. So, they’re all gunning for me, and they’re all dangerous, and they all have their different attributes to bring to the table, so I think my job as the champ is just to stay ready for whoever. I’m just going to stay in the gym, and I have to be able to beat every single one of them.”

H/T to MMAJunkie.com for transcribing.

Video: Miesha Tate Says Holly Holm “Crumbled Under The Pressure” At UFC 196

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While Holly Holm may have been ahead on the cards going into the end of her fight with Miesha Tate at UFC 196, but according to Tate, after round two, the stage was set for her to pull off the upset later in the fight.

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While Holly Holm may have been ahead on the cards going into the end of her fight with Miesha Tate at UFC 196, but according to Tate, after round two, the stage was set for her to pull off the upset later in the fight.

Tate spoke about the fight during her appearance on The Fight Network this week.

“I think she just crumbled under the pressure when I took her down in that second round,” Tate told Fight Network’s John Pollock. “My coaches and Bryan [Caraway] actually told me, ‘She’s either going to stay down and be so scared about being submitted that you’re going to ground and pound her and beat her up or she’s going to try desperately to get up. Because your top pressure is so heavy she’s going to be forced to leave something out there and you’re going to grab it and you’re going to submit this girl.’

“We saw both cases. In the second round she stayed down there and took some heavy ground and pound. In the fifth round she definitely didn’t want to get stuck down there again so she tried to zealously get up and I saw the opening and I took it. We planned for that and we assumed that was going to happen.”

While the UFC brass has been critical of Holm’s decision to take a fight with Tate instead of waiting for the guaranteed immediate rematch money-fight with Ronda Rousey, Tate said that she admires Holm for making the decision.

“I think Holly took the advice of her coaches who she trusts with everything,” said Tate. “They said, ‘Holly, you’ve always been an active fighter. Let’s not change who you are now that you’re the champion because that’s when you’re going to lose sight of who you are.’ I think the idea was to keep her grounded just the same as if she wasn’t the champion. Fighting often, through the top 10 and I admire that. I respect that. I think that’s what any champion should do. She didn’t want to wait. She wanted to get in there and prove why she was the best in the world.

“It didn’t work out for her this time but that’s the mindset that makes a champion. You’re not going to win every fight in this sport but she has the mentality of a champion and that’s why she beat Ronda. If she would have said, ‘I’m not ready to fight Ronda’ she would have missed that opportunity. She’s just the kind of woman who wants to stay ready, be ready and she’s passionate about this. I have a lot of respect for her and I don’t think it was a mistake. I think she’s going to learn from it and she’ll come back better.”