Almost eight years since their last clash, Miesha Tate still yearns for a third chance at former UFC bantamweight superstar Ronda Rousey, and she points to her previous relationship as the “kryptonite” that led to defeat in her first two scraps with the “Rowdy” one.
Simply put, without Ronda Rousey (12-2) vs Miesha Tate (19-7) in Strikeforce we probably don’t get women’s MMA in the Octagon. And without their rematch, following a head coaching gig on the eighteenth season of The Ultimate Fighter, women very well may not have been viewed as main event stars in the UFC until many years later. The pair’s feud was highly influential in pushing women’s MMA to new heights.
Yet, despite how successful their feud was in terms of the industry, Rousey and Tate’s two fights were fairly one-sided affairs. The inaugural UFC women’s 135-pound champion won both fights, with the silver medal-winning Olympian securing an armbar finish in each. The second fight, at UFC 168 in 2013, was far more competitive than the first but Tate didn’t come close to derailing the Rousey win train like Holly Holm eventually did two years later.
Miesha Tate explains why a third fight with Ronda Rousey would go differently
However, even with two defeats to her most-hated rival, the UFC Vegas 43 headliner still desires a trilogy bout with Rousey. In a Wednesday interview with ESPN MMA, the 35-year-old was asked how often her fellow Strikeforce alum comes to mind. Surprisingly, Tate had thought of Rousey and a another fight just this week, and she explained why another tussle with the former WWE women’s champion would go much differently in a third bout.
“Gosh, yesterday?” Tate said when asked about the last time she thought of Rousey. “I think it was just one of those things, I was thinking about long-term goals, and I know she’s retired, and she just had a baby. That’s all fine and dandy but, man, it would be a dream come true if she came back and I could fight her one more time.
“I know I have what it takes to beat Ronda Rousey. And she knew part of the kryptonite for me was in my former relationship was causing the rift between him and I, so that everything was unstable in the personal life,” she continued. “Having the rivalry, and the extra pressure of somebody that you’re with day in and day out, was such a detriment to me that I think I went into those fights so congested in my mind. I really wasn’t able to be just fighting her.”
The previous relationship Tate referred to was with long-time boyfriend Bryan Caraway. The pair dated during her early years in the UFC, and that included her stint on TUF and the pivotal rematch with Rousey. They eventually split in 2016 after the relationship devolved to a point where she claims it became “toxic.”
In February, Caraway — a 10 fight UFC veteran — was charged with a felony in connection with a 2018 case where an all-terrain vehicle owned by Tate was stolen.
Tate is now married to another Octagon veteran in Johnny Nunez and the pair have two children. She faces Ketlen Vieira (11-2) in the main event of Saturday night’s UFC Vegas 43 card. The event airs exclusively on ESPN+ and starts at 3 pm ET.
Do you think Tate could beat Rousey if they competed in a trilogy bout, or does the third fight not make much sense in 2021?
