Miesha Tate went on Conan O’Brien’s couch last night and was asked about another rematch with Ronda Rousey. Even though Miesha still needs to defend her belt against Amanda Nunes, she stoked the fires of her rivalry with Rousey with this subtle yet sharp answer that even got Silicon Valley’s Kumail Nanjiani hot…
I’m a Rousey fan, so it’s a bit odd and disconcerting that Rousey has appeared off her game, repeatedly stating how depressed she was and what dark thoughts she’s had after her shocking loss to Holly Holm.
In the meantime, one of the women who’s continued to be a gnat buzzing around her legacy, Miesha Tate, upsets Holm to get the belt. Now, it seems for Rousey to recapture her status as the most prolific female UFC fighter in the sport, she’ll have to destroy Tate for the belt and defend it against Holm?
Tate’s not the first or only critic of Rousey’s atypically mopey reaction and slow return to the octagon; Brock Lesnar thought Ronda should’ve learned how to handle defeat a long time ago. Ironically, Rousey has become the female version of Brock Lesnar as she’s shown interest in wrestling in the WWE and could have a match at WrestleMania 33 right at the time when Lesnar is being touted as a “WWE Superstar” in promos for his match at UFC 200.
Some have suggested Ronda’s had too many distractions to dominate the UFC, but the road to recovery and redemption has been laid out – deliver a third consecutive victory overt Tate for the belt, even the series with Holm, and set up for the thrilling conclusion to the Rousey-Holm trilogy.