Although they’re not fighting anymore, there is still some bad blood between Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey.
Rousey has been out of the fight game for two years after suffering devastating losses in her last two bouts under the UFC banner.
Up until those losses, she was a wrecking machine as she ran through the top contenders in the division at the time.
However, that all went away when she was dethroned of UFC gold by Holly Holm at UFC 193 in November 2015 as Holm knocked her out with a head kick in devastating style. Then, she suffered a 48-second TKO loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 in December 2016.
On the flip side, Tate retired from MMA following her loss to Raquel Pennington and is currently expecting the birth of her first child soon.
Their history goes back to 2012 when they competed in Strikeforce. They have fought each other twice. Rousey submitted Tate to take her Strikeforce women’s bantamweight championship.
Then moving along one year later, Rousey won again by armbar at UFC 168 to successfully retain her UFC women’s bantamweight title.
If you recall, Rousey stated last week that she has been silent to the MMA media because in her mind, for them to hear her speak was “a privilege that’s been abused, so why not revoke it from everyone?”
Tate addressed Rousey’s statements on the most recent episode of MMA Tonight.
“People are gonna say I’m being a hater but I’m gonna be honest, I think it’s a bit ridiculous and I think it’s very above herself,” said Tate (transcript courtesy of MMA Fighting). “This kind of attitude, this is where we butt heads. This is the point where we don’t agree. Sometimes Ronda will say something that’s humble and I’ll be like, ‘Hey, that’s a great comment.’ This is asinine.
“I think this is not the kind of attitude that you should have when you’re someone who is in the position of Ronda. Ronda’s very fortunate. Granted, she’s worked very hard but there’s a lot of people that work really, really hard and don’t get to that point of stardom or financial benefit or whatever it is. It’s a combined effort. To say ‘it’s a privilege to hear me speak’ is just sounds rude and full of herself. She really sounds full of herself.”
“I don’t see it as a privilege to hear her speak,” said Tate. “She owes it – sort of, to a degree – to her fans. Without the fans and the people who care what you say, what you say doesn’t matter. So when you say something like that I feel like it’s a burn and a slap in the face to the people who love and support you. She has a lot of young ladies that really look up to her and I just don’t think this is the type of attitude that a role model should have because it seems a bit selfish, it really does.
“I think she should be more grateful for being in the position that she’s in and everybody who has genuinely loved her throughout her career than to turn around and say, ‘It’s a privilege to hear me speak.’ I think it’s a bit ridiculous.”
What are your thoughts on Tate’s recent comments? Sound off in the comment section below.
