It sounds like Miesha Tate hasn’t gotten over being passed over for a title shot against Ronda Rousey.
Tate spoke with ESPN recently and discussed her feelings about her current place in the UFC women’s 135 pound division.
“[UFC president] Dana White will say I’m one fight away, and then in his next interview, he’ll say I’m a couple fights away,” Tate said. “I keep seeing different headlines come out, and I don’t know what to think.
“I fear that they want me to fight all the other top girls, and the connotation is that if they beat me, they get a title, but if I beat them, it’s ‘bring on the next one.’ Essentially, I feel like they have deemed me as a gatekeeper, and that’s fine for a while because I put myself there. I won and lost those fights. But there has to be some light at the end of that tunnel. If there’s not, what is my future in this sport?”
After being passed over for Holly Holm for the next crack at Rousey, Tate was offered a fight with number three ranked Amanda Nunes, however she turned it down.
“It’s a very fine line,” Tate said. “All I can say is I don’t want it to go in that direction, but anything is a possibility. If it’s clear there’s no way for me to get a title shot as long as Ronda has the belt, then I don’t know. I suppose I have to look at my options. And that’s not saying I will retire, but it’s something I’d have to think about.”
“I make myself as available as possible. But there comes a point when I cannot sacrifice what I believe in my heart to be right.
“I’m not saying the UFC is trying to bully me, but if they really want something and they get it in their head, that’s all they want, and for me it’s not that simple. When I don’t feel right about something or if my heart’s not into it, I’m not going to do it.”
“This was another day in the office to them, but to me it’s like, ‘You just ruined my life,’ and I feel like they need to understand that a little.”
