Miesha Tate’s upcoming fight on Saturday against Holly Holm at UFC 196 almost never happened. Tate explained in a recent interview that she almost retired after being denied Women’s Bantamweight title shots against Ronda Rousey on multiple occasions.
“I felt like I was at the top of the top after winning four straight fights in a row and getting another title shot and really feeling like I was ready for that,” Tate told FOX Sports. “I was excited for that opportunity. Right away, I was back in the gym and I was unscathed in the fight with Jessica (Eye). Then I found out I wasn’t getting the title shot and I was a little upset about that and the way that it was announced. I was super upset. I just felt like I was never going to get another title shot so long as Ronda was the champion.”
Tate says her difficulties securing a title shot almost lead her to putting an end to her career.
“That was really hard for me to swallow,” Tate said. “That had me contemplating retirement even at one point, but not because I wasn’t able to compete at that high of a level but because I felt that maybe that door had shut for me in the eyes of the UFC.”
“I didn’t know where I stood with that and how I could process those emotions and what my motivation would be if it’s not to become the best in the world. My motivation is to fight for what? I’m not fighting for a participation ribbon. I’m fighting to be the champion.”
Tate is on a four-fight winning streak, and has an overall record of 17-5. She will be facing UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm (10-0) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on March 5th.
Miesha Tate’s upcoming fight on Saturday against Holly Holm at UFC 196 almost never happened. Tate explained in a recent interview that she almost retired after being denied Women’s Bantamweight title shots against Ronda Rousey on multiple occasions.
“I felt like I was at the top of the top after winning four straight fights in a row and getting another title shot and really feeling like I was ready for that,” Tate told FOX Sports. “I was excited for that opportunity. Right away, I was back in the gym and I was unscathed in the fight with Jessica (Eye). Then I found out I wasn’t getting the title shot and I was a little upset about that and the way that it was announced. I was super upset. I just felt like I was never going to get another title shot so long as Ronda was the champion.”
Tate says her difficulties securing a title shot almost lead her to putting an end to her career.
“That was really hard for me to swallow,” Tate said. “That had me contemplating retirement even at one point, but not because I wasn’t able to compete at that high of a level but because I felt that maybe that door had shut for me in the eyes of the UFC.”
“I didn’t know where I stood with that and how I could process those emotions and what my motivation would be if it’s not to become the best in the world. My motivation is to fight for what? I’m not fighting for a participation ribbon. I’m fighting to be the champion.”
Tate is on a four-fight winning streak, and has an overall record of 17-5. She will be facing UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm (10-0) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on March 5th.
Holly Holm is booked to defend her Women’s Bantamweight Title against Miesha Tate at UFC 196, but it’s not the main event. Previously, Dana White had made a definitive statement regarding title fights on his pay-per-view cards:
“Whether men, women, the lightest weight division there is,” White said in 2013. “If you’re the champion, you’re the headliner. You’re the top of the card.”
Holm, who is coming off an impressive victory over Ronda Rousey at UFC 193 in November, told MMA Junkie that she isn’t upset to be taking a backseat to the main event of Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz in a non-title fight.
“I don’t care if it’s the first fight, the last fight, [or] the second to last fight,” Holm explained, “I have zero concern about that. A lot of people are like, ‘You should be the main event.’ I’m like, ‘co-main is fine.’ I have my fight. That’s all I care about. And I’m so glad because that’s really not a concern or care of mine.”
UFC 196 takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, March 5, 2016. We’ll have live round-by-round results of the event right here on MMANews.com.
Holly Holm is booked to defend her Women’s Bantamweight Title against Miesha Tate at UFC 196, but it’s not the main event. Previously, Dana White had made a definitive statement regarding title fights on his pay-per-view cards:
“Whether men, women, the lightest weight division there is,” White said in 2013. “If you’re the champion, you’re the headliner. You’re the top of the card.”
Holm, who is coming off an impressive victory over Ronda Rousey at UFC 193 in November, told MMA Junkie that she isn’t upset to be taking a backseat to the main event of Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz in a non-title fight.
“I don’t care if it’s the first fight, the last fight, [or] the second to last fight,” Holm explained, “I have zero concern about that. A lot of people are like, ‘You should be the main event.’ I’m like, ‘co-main is fine.’ I have my fight. That’s all I care about. And I’m so glad because that’s really not a concern or care of mine.”
UFC 196 takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, March 5, 2016. We’ll have live round-by-round results of the event right here on MMANews.com.
Australia’s 7 News Perth was one of many outlets that talked to Ronda Rousey as part of a EA Sports UFC 2-centric media day in Vancouver, British Columbia recently, with the video going up over the weekend. The interview itself is a pretty basic puff piece centering on how she doesn’t blame Australia (where she was knocked out for Holly Holm) for anything, how the swimsuit design that was painted on her in Sports Illustrated was from an Australian designer, and so on. Which is kind of why the interview became newsworthy: In the above clip that 7 News Perth tweeted, you can see that they had their cameras running before the interview…and caught Rousey’s public relations representative telling them that they can’t ask about fighting, or else she will walk out.
This is the bit of interaction that’s included in the story:
PR Rep: “Guy over there just asked a question, it was DONE.”
Interviewer [after an edit]: “She’s a fighter. It’s like asking me to do a basketballer and not talking about basketball.”
Obviously, this is going to lead to a lot of speculation about whether or not Rousey is done with fighting. For the time being, it appears that her acting career has not been negatively affected by the change in public perception that her brutal UFC Bantamweight Championship loss to Holm caused, and if Holm remains champion after UFC 196 this Saturday, she’s clearly a tough stylistic matchup for Rousey. She may not need fighting anymore. For now, though, we don’t really know.
EA Sports UFC 2, which features both Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor on the cover, comes out on March 15th (two weeks from today, March 1st) and is available for pre-order now.
Australia’s 7 News Perth was one of many outlets that talked to Ronda Rousey as part of a EA Sports UFC 2-centric media day in Vancouver, British Columbia recently, with the video going up over the weekend. The interview itself is a pretty basic puff piece centering on how she doesn’t blame Australia (where she was knocked out for Holly Holm) for anything, how the swimsuit design that was painted on her in Sports Illustrated was from an Australian designer, and so on. Which is kind of why the interview became newsworthy: In the above clip that 7 News Perth tweeted, you can see that they had their cameras running before the interview…and caught Rousey’s public relations representative telling them that they can’t ask about fighting, or else she will walk out.
This is the bit of interaction that’s included in the story:
PR Rep: “Guy over there just asked a question, it was DONE.”
Interviewer [after an edit]: “She’s a fighter. It’s like asking me to do a basketballer and not talking about basketball.”
Obviously, this is going to lead to a lot of speculation about whether or not Rousey is done with fighting. For the time being, it appears that her acting career has not been negatively affected by the change in public perception that her brutal UFC Bantamweight Championship loss to Holm caused, and if Holm remains champion after UFC 196 this Saturday, she’s clearly a tough stylistic matchup for Rousey. She may not need fighting anymore. For now, though, we don’t really know.
EA Sports UFC 2, which features both Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor on the cover, comes out on March 15th (two weeks from today, March 1st) and is available for pre-order now.
UFC veteran Mikey Burnett, who once fought Pat Miletich for a UFC title during the “dark ages” of the sport, was reportedly shot three times during an attempted robbery in Tulsa, Oklahoma this week.
According to local reports, Burnett and his so…
UFC veteran Mikey Burnett, who once fought Pat Miletich for a UFC title during the “dark ages” of the sport, was reportedly shot three times during an attempted robbery in Tulsa, Oklahoma this week.
According to local reports, Burnett and his son were held up outside of Rib Crib, a popular Bar-B-Q restaurant in Tulsa. The reports claim Burnett was shot three times while his son, Freddie, was shot once in the leg.
News On 6 reported the following details about the incident:
“Tulsa police said, as the father, Mikey Burnett, and son, Freddie Burnett, got to their car, two men walked up and tried to rob them. We’re told Freddie tried to fight off the suspected robbers when they held up his dad.
Police said Mikey was shot three times in the abdomen and Freddie was shot once in the leg. Police said Mikey was taken to the hospital for surgery. Both are expected to survive.”
Mikey Burnett last fought for the UFC during “The Comeback” themed season of The Ultimate Fighter.
While she is no doubt focused on her own battle against Holly Holm at UFC 196 this Saturday, longtime Women’s Bantamweight contender Miesha Tate recently admitted that even she is anticipating a Holm vs. Ronda Rousey rem…
https://youtu.be/13aupU3y0rE
While she is no doubt focused on her own battle against Holly Holm at UFC 196 this Saturday, longtime Women’s Bantamweight contender Miesha Tate recently admitted that even she is anticipating a Holm vs. Ronda Rousey rematch.
Tate, who challenges Holm for the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship in the co-main event of this Saturday’s pay-per-view, stated the following about wanting to see Holm-Rousey II during her recent appearance on ESPN SportsCenter:
“I wanna see the rematch too, at some point, I think everybody does. As a fan of the sport myself, I would love to see that. When I go in there and win the belt on Saturday, that’s probably gonna throw a wrench in the mix, so they can either put the trilogy together between Ronda and myself, with me as the champion, or they can make a non-title bout between Holly and Ronda, whatever they prefer, but I just wanna go in there on March 5 and win the belt.”
UFC 196: McGregor vs. Diaz takes place this Saturday, March 5th from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Make sure to visit MMANews.com on 3/5 for the best UFC 196 live results coverage on the web!
Two interesting members of the UFC’s welterweight division will square off this May at UFC Fight Night 87, as Albert Tumenov meets Gunnar Nelson.
Tumenov (17-2) has picked up five consecutive victories, including three knockouts, since a loss to Ild…
Two interesting members of the UFC’s welterweight division will square off this May at UFC Fight Night 87, as Albert Tumenov meets Gunnar Nelson.
Tumenov (17-2) has picked up five consecutive victories, including three knockouts, since a loss to Ildemar Alcantara in his Octagon debut. That run includes victories over Alan Jouban and Lorenz Larkin for the 24-year-old fighter.
Nelson (14-2-1), meanwhile, finds himself needing a solid performance to get back in the talk for Top-10 bouts. The 27-year-old from Iceland opened his career with a 13-0-1 record, but has gone just 1-2 over his last three, falling to Demian Maia and Rick Story.
The card, which goes down May 8 from the Ahoy Rotterdam in the Netherlands, will be highlighted by a heavyweight affair pitting Alistair Overeem against Andrei Arlovski. Stefan Struve is also set to challenge Antonio Silva, while officials recently confirmed Peter Sobotta-Dominic Waters for the event, as well.
