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You think of Women’s MMA, the first name that pops into the mind is Ronda Rousey. The first UFC women’s champion will be the first female to headline a show as she defends her title against Liz Carmouche at UFC 157 next month. Dana White has stated wom…
You think of Women’s MMA, the first name that pops into the mind is Ronda Rousey. The first UFC women’s champion will be the first female to headline a show as she defends her title against Liz Carmouche at UFC 157 next month. Dana White has stated women’s MMA right now is “The Ronda Rousey Show.”
Hopefully, Dana White reads this because here are 10 other women that can join Rousey in the UFC.
(Well, at least she has looking hot in front of a camera as a fallback career.)
Although the main card of Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman card provided most of the evening’s highlights, you would be hard pressed to find an MMA site that didn’t declare Miesha Tate’s come-from-behind win (insert puns now) over Julie Kedzie to be the most exciting fight of the evening. Despite being rocked on various occasions and almost ending up as the first entry in the head-kick-nip-slip Hall of Fame, Tate was able to brave the storm and score an armbar victory of her own late in the third round.
But up until that point, it was plain to see that there was clearly something a little off about the former title holder. Her combinations came few and far between, and her takedown attempts seemed to be lacking a certain gusto that they had previously held. While part of this could be attributed to the toughness of Kedzie, who has been training at Greg Jackson’s gym for some time now (and is in fact his personal assistant), an equal amount could just as easily be blamed on Tate’s somewhat lackadaisical attitude in the cage on Saturday night.
The fact that she still managed to pull off an amazing, gritty win over a tough opponent despite this only shows what caliber of fighter Tate truly is, but according to the source herself, we might not be seeing “Cupcake” in action for a while. In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani during The MMA Hour, Tate explained that she simply “didn’t feel the passion and fire that [she] had felt in her previous fights” when facing Kedzie:
I felt out of my element, I didn’t feel normal in there whatsoever. It was very strange, it was not a feeling I enjoyed and not something I want to experience again, I don’t really know what my next step is here. Even when I was when lined up with Julie, across the cage, I was like, ‘Is this really happening right now? Am I really here? Am I really in this fight?’ I felt like I was kind of just in this twilight zone. I did not like that. It’s not how I normally feel, not how emotions really run. Normally I’m excited to be there, I’m amped and pumped, and I felt little to nothing, and I mean, she literally elbowed me and got my lip really good and I was like ‘ehh, whatever.’ She kicked me in the face, ‘ehh, whatever,’ It was not, it wasn’t a normal circumstance for me I don’t know why that is but I’m asking myself a lot of questions. I think I need to take a step back, relax a minute, and evaluate it.
More from this interview is after the jump.
(Well, at least she has looking hot in front of a camera as a fallback career.)
Although the main card of Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman card provided most of the evening’s highlights, you would be hard pressed to find an MMA site that didn’t declare Miesha Tate’s come-from-behind win (insert puns now) over Julie Kedzie to be the most exciting fight of the evening. Despite being rocked on various occasions and almost ending up as the first entry in the head-kick-nip-slip Hall of Fame, Tate was able to brave the storm and score an armbar victory of her own late in the third round.
But up until that point, it was plain to see that there was clearly something a little off about the former title holder. Her combinations came few and far between, and her takedown attempts seemed to be lacking a certain gusto that they had previously held. While part of this could be attributed to the toughness of Kedzie, who has been training at Greg Jackson’s gym for some time now (and is in fact his personal assistant), an equal amount could just as easily be blamed on Tate’s somewhat lackadaisical attitude in the cage on Saturday night.
The fact that she still managed to pull off an amazing, gritty win over a tough opponent despite this only shows what caliber of fighter Tate truly is, but according to the source herself, we might not be seeing “Cupcake” in action for a while. In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani during The MMA Hour, Tate explained that she simply “didn’t feel the passion and fire that [she] had felt in her previous fights” when facing Kedzie:
I felt out of my element, I didn’t feel normal in there whatsoever. It was very strange, it was not a feeling I enjoyed and not something I want to experience again, I don’t really know what my next step is here. Even when I was when lined up with Julie, across the cage, I was like, ‘Is this really happening right now? Am I really here? Am I really in this fight?’ I felt like I was kind of just in this twilight zone. I did not like that. It’s not how I normally feel, not how emotions really run. Normally I’m excited to be there, I’m amped and pumped, and I felt little to nothing, and I mean, she literally elbowed me and got my lip really good and I was like ‘ehh, whatever.’ She kicked me in the face, ‘ehh, whatever,’ It was not, it wasn’t a normal circumstance for me I don’t know why that is but I’m asking myself a lot of questions. I think I need to take a step back, relax a minute, and evaluate it.
I may be alone in this, but does that tidbit remind anyone else of the “fishing in Privlaka” comments Mirko Cro Cop made after UFC 103?
Tate’s fleeting desire to compete, at least in my opinion, could easily be attributed to the lack of depth that currently exists in WMMA. It’s bad enough that these ladies are barely making enough to cover their medical expenses, but the fact that Tate can only knock off so many “contenders” before being thrown into an inevitable rematch with Ronda Rousey must be kind of depressing considering how their first fight ended.
Tate mirrored these concerns:
I need to find a way to fire myself up again and get that passion, because I know there’s so much I still want to accomplish in MMA. I absolutely want to fight Ronda Rousey twice, but at this point, you know, mentally and emotionally, I’m not right. I shouldn’t be getting into the cage if I’m not going into it wholeheartedly for this fight. It’s hard for me to admit that, but that’s the honest truth. I didn’t feel like it for this fight like I did for other fights. I don’t know how to explain that, I guess it’s something I just have to figure out at this point.
And why would Tate have issues getting excited for her fight with Kedzie, you ask? Well, considering that she was coming off arguably the biggest fight in WMMA history, only to be placed on the undercard for her very next fight could be a factor. It could also be that Tate and Rousey were lobbing incredible amounts of shit back and forth at one another, only to have Rousey do exactly what she said she would come fight night, that has Tate discouraged. Or it could be the simple fact that Kedzie appears to be one of the nicest, kindest figures in the sport, to the point that it would be hard for even a Diaz to hate her.
It’s pure speculation at this point, but at least Tate is willing to admit that her heart is really not in the game, instead of trying to convince herself otherwise and fight on. The latter normally ends in more violent fashion.
We’ve added a brief highlight of the Tate/Kedzie fight below. Let us know what you thought of Tate’s performance in the comments section.
When Miesha Tate (12-3) faces Julie Kedzdie (16-9) on Showtime, Tate is considered to be a heavy favorite. But, Kedzie’s story is equally compelling. While Tate is the more dominating fighter (According to ProMMANow, odds are currently listed as:…
When Miesha Tate (12-3) faces Julie Kedzdie (16-9) on Showtime, Tate is considered to be a heavy favorite. But, Kedzie’s story is equally compelling.
While Tate is the more dominating fighter (According to ProMMANow, odds are currently listed as: Tate -465 vs. Kedzie +365) with a more storied history, these are two of the most fascinating veterans in women’s MMA. When Kezdie takes on the former bantamweight champion, she will certainly look back on the roads that she has crossed to get where she is today.
At 18, Kedzie faced severe depression and anxiety and was plagued by a horrific eating disorder to give her momentary pleasure.
“It was definitely a dark period for me,” she told Loretta Hunt of Sports Illustrated. “It was a six- or seven-year struggle.”
In her time of recovery, there were many things that she had to do to rediscovery herself as an individual and as a fighter. She moved in with her sister to curb the attacks, saw a therapist and started to devote her life to a passion.
Kedzie dropped out of college to pursue women’s mixed martial arts, but has since earned a degree in English literature. She had also moved from Indiana to New Mexico for training at a world-class gym among some of the world’s best athletes.
The endearing athlete has since made a name for herself among the other athletes who train among her.
“I always say she’s the Lucille Ball of MMA,” said trainer Greg Jackson in his Sports Illustrated interview with Hunt. “She’s very smart, but things happen to Julie that don’t happen to other people. She’ll always dropping her phone or accidentally running her car into a garage. Just stuff like that.”
But according to the article, Kedzie, 31, still suffers from occasional relapses.
“It’s a legitimate illness that can cause a lot of damage, so I just tried to attack it as head-on I could. I’m not a trained psychologist, but I tried to support her as much as I could. I tried to create a positive atmosphere that supported her not doing that any more, but ultimately the change had to come from her.”
“[Bulimia] wasn’t something I mentioned in my career [until now] because I don’t think it made me sound very tough, but I emerged from it and here I am,” said Kedzie (via Sports Illustrated).
And here she became. The fighter became the first woman to ever be shown on Showtime and earned “Fight of the Night” honors in her first match.
“I didn’t really think it was that big of a deal,” Kedzie explained to Sherdog inside trainer Greg Jackson (via Tristan Critchfield of Sherdog). “I’m pretty sure my manager had explained it to me, but to me, it was another fight. I like everything just being another fight.”
That’s the kind of mentality that she will need to take when she faces Miesha Tate on Saturday night.
“I’ve been asked whether Tate is the biggest bout of my career a lot, but she’s just another opponent. I don’t disrespect her or her marketing schemes or whatever she does, but she’s just another fighter. That’s how I see it,” said Kedzie (via Sherdog).
Tate seems to have echoed these sentiments.
“I’m preparing for her as though I am fighting the number one girl. I figure if I was training to fight Ronda [Rousey] or Sarah [Kaufman], then I’ll make if through Julie and move on to fight one of those girls,” Tate told David Ciapala of Yahoo! Sports. “So I’m just training as hard as I can – just preparing myself the best that I can.
And not that I have much of a game plan, honestly. I’m just going to go out there and let my skill set and my instincts kick in for me.”
But Kedzie has remained level-headed.
“I think I match up very well with Miesha,” said Kedzie to Carlin Bardsley of SportsNet. “We’ve had a couple of similar opponents, but we’ve never actually fought each other so it’s about time. I think I match up very well technically, and I bring a lot to the table that people aren’t necessarily aware of from my past fights and I’m looking forward to showing them a fully developed fighter.”
Kedzie is an inspirational fighter given all that she have achieved to reach the success that she is now familiar with today.
The two face off at 8 p.m. ET and PT on Showtime Extreme.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com
(Is there anything that Nick Newell can’t do? NO EYE CONTACT! Props: TheRealClayHenry via Karmaatemycat)
– Kedzie Overcame Eating Disorder to Become Women’s MMA Contender (SI.com)
– Javier Mendez Says “The Team Got Stronger After Koscheck Left” (Fightline)
– Why Chael Sonnen At Light Heavyweight is Great for MMA (HeavyMMA)
– Sarah Kaufman Training Camp Journal [VIDEO] (MMAFighting)
– The Rock and Gina Carano on the Set of ‘Fast 6’ (Facebook.com/CagePotato)
– GSP: “I Didn’t Have the Drive Anymore, I Lost a Little Bit of Love for MMA” (BleacherReport/MMA)
– Celebrities With Front Butts [GALLERY] (WorldWideInterweb)
– Bryce Harper Tells Kids to ‘Be as Sexy as You Can’ (TerezOwens)
– Amazing Photos of Lightning Storms Over 25 Cities (EgoTV)
– Official Trailer for ‘Ghost Tits,’ Starring Olivia Munn (TurdFergusonBlog)
– How To Break Up With Class (I.E. Not Discuss What An Emotional Vampire Your Ex Was) (MadeMan)
– Can Long-Distance Travel Make You Sick? (MensFitness)
– The Six Saddest Places Penises Have Had to Be Freed From (HolyTaco)
(Is there anything that Nick Newell can’t do? NO EYE CONTACT! Props: TheRealClayHenry via Karmaatemycat)
– Kedzie Overcame Eating Disorder to Become Women’s MMA Contender (SI.com)
– Javier Mendez Says “The Team Got Stronger After Koscheck Left” (Fightline)
– Why Chael Sonnen At Light Heavyweight is Great for MMA (HeavyMMA)
– Sarah Kaufman Training Camp Journal [VIDEO] (MMAFighting)
– The Rock and Gina Carano on the Set of ‘Fast 6′ (Facebook.com/CagePotato)
– GSP: “I Didn’t Have the Drive Anymore, I Lost a Little Bit of Love for MMA” (BleacherReport/MMA)
– Celebrities With Front Butts [GALLERY] (WorldWideInterweb)
– Bryce Harper Tells Kids to ‘Be as Sexy as You Can’ (TerezOwens)
– Amazing Photos of Lightning Storms Over 25 Cities (EgoTV)
– Official Trailer for ‘Ghost Tits,’ Starring Olivia Munn (TurdFergusonBlog)
– How To Break Up With Class (I.E. Not Discuss What An Emotional Vampire Your Ex Was) (MadeMan)
– Can Long-Distance Travel Make You Sick? (MensFitness)
– The Six Saddest Places Penises Have Had to Be Freed From (HolyTaco)
What a difference five months can make. You’re in the main event in what was quite arguably the biggest fight in the history of Strikeforce. Now your headlining once again, but it is on the undercard of a channel that a majority of the public…
What a difference five months can make. You’re in the main event in what was quite arguably the biggest fight in the history of Strikeforce. Now your headlining once again, but it is on the undercard of a channel that a majority of the public doesn’t have.
This is the position Miesha Tate is in and isn’t too thrilled about it. Tate headlines the undercard portion of Strikeforce: Rousey vs Kaufman on Saturday night as she squares off against MMA veteran Julie Kedzie. The bout can be seen on Showtime Extreme starting at 8ET/5PT.
She doesn’t get why she is on the preliminary portion of the card considering her credentials exceed some of the fighters who made the main card and feels it is a demotion.
“It’s confusing to me,” Tate told Bleacher Report. “I know I have more of a following than a few of the guys on the main card. It leaves me wondering why would they put me on the undercard versus a couple of the fights that are on there. Is it just because I’m a girl? Is it just because they don’t want to have two female fights on the main card? Otherwise it doesn’t make any sense.
“I do know that the people that matter are going to be watching and that’s matchmaker (Sean Shelby), Dana White, Lorenzo (Fertitta), my friends and family. I know their going to be paying attention. I don’t know how you would take a former world champion who has lost one fight after being on a six fight winning streak, with a huge following and put me on the undercard. It was insulting.”
Their was a lot of heat going into Tate’s loss to Ronda Rousey in March. You usually gain a measure for respect as a fighter for your opponent. In this case, more respect has been lost for Rousey in Tate’s eyes.
“She didn’t prove anything new (in the fight),” Tate stated. “I would have appreciated and would have a lot more respect for her if after the fight was done and would have said, “you know what, what’s done is done. We did a great job selling this fight.”
“If she would handled it more maturely instead of just saying, ‘whatever, I don’t feel bad about what I said,’ and continue to talk trash afterwords. I think I pretty much lost respect for her after that.”
Tate feels even with the rumblings of Cris Cyborg getting a title match with the winner of the main event that she will be the number one contender with an impressive performance over Kedzie.
“I think she (Cyborg) shouldn’t be able to just walk right in and fight for the belt,” Tate stated. “I’m not pointing any fingers at Cris, but I do know that she got suspended for illegal substance use. I don’t feel someone should be rewarded for that. I don’t think you should be able to come back from a one year layoff and get an instant title shot especially in a weight class where we all know is going to very difficult for her to make weight.”
“I think Julie Kedzie is a top ten fighter in the world,” Tate stated. “I know her record (16-10) is kind of so so. You have to realize that Julie Kedzie has fought the best females her entire career. She never backs away from a fight. it doesn’t matter if she got offered a fight two minutes or ten days before fight time. She’s always out there to fight, fought outside her weight class and a super tough girl. She’s not a chump and has a lot of experience. I think that Sean (Shelby), Dana (White) and those guys, if they’ve done any research on her know what kind of fighter she is and for me to go out there and get a dominant win means something.”
You can follow me on Twitter @fightclubchi.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com
(No, this is not the ‘All Access’ video, but rather a behind-the-scenes video of her ESPN ‘The Body’ shoot. Go ahead and complain. I DARE YOU.)
“Everything you need in a fighter, she has, yet she’s a woman and she’s beautiful. The Ronda Rousey package is different than any other package we’ve ever seen.”
So says UFC President Dana White as he leads us into Showtime’s “All Access” look at the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion, Olympic Judo bronze medalist, and occasional TMZ host Ronda Rousey, who in just over two years has managed to almost effortlessly ascend to the sport’s highest level. And it’s hard to deny that “Rowdy” is an athlete unlike many, if not all of her counterparts — a hot female Jon Jones if you will — whose “kill or be killed” outlook on life (and aforementioned looks) has led her to achieve massive success in easily the most overlooked facet of MMA. We’re talking of course, about the ladies.
Detailing everything from Rousey’s heated title-earning feud with Meisha Tate (Spoiler: It ended like all of Rousey’s fights do) to her (gulp) nude shoot for ESPN’s The Body issue to her preparation for her upcoming title defense against Sarah Kaufman, “All Access” truly lives up to it’s name. Showtime takes us inside the champion’s house, which looks like an average episode of Hoarders, and snags interviews with everyone from Gina Carano, who Ronda admits convinced her to drop trau for ESPN in the first place (as if we needed to thank Gina for anything else) to former HooknShoot Grand Prix winner Julie Kedzie.
So check out the full video after the jump, and let us know what you think.
(No, this is not the ‘All Access’ video, but rather a behind-the-scenes video of her ESPN ‘The Body’ shoot. Go ahead and complain. I DARE YOU.)
“Everything you need in a fighter, she has, yet she’s a woman and she’s beautiful. The Ronda Rousey package is different than any other package we’ve ever seen.”
So says UFC President Dana White as he leads us into Showtime’s “All Access” look at the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion, Olympic Judo bronze medalist, and occasional TMZ host Ronda Rousey, who in just over two years has managed to almost effortlessly ascend to the sport’s highest level. And it’s hard to deny that “Rowdy” is an athlete unlike many, if not all of her counterparts — a hot female Jon Jones if you will — whose “kill or be killed” outlook on life (and aforementioned looks) has led her to achieve massive success in easily the most overlooked facet of MMA. We’re talking of course, about the ladies.
Detailing everything from Rousey’s heated title-earning feud with Meisha Tate (Spoiler: It ended like all of Rousey’s fights do) to her (gulp) nude shoot for ESPN’s The Body issue to her preparation for her upcoming title defense against Sarah Kaufman, “All Access” truly lives up to it’s name. Showtime takes us inside the champion’s house, which looks like an average episode of Hoarders, and snags interviews with everyone from Gina Carano, who Ronda admits convinced her to drop trau for ESPN in the first place (as if we needed to thank Gina for anything else) to former HooknShoot Grand Prix winner Julie Kedzie.
Check out the full video below, and let us know what you think.