The former UFC women’s bantamweight champion has some thoughts about Edmond Tarverdyan’s recent Rousey vs. Cyborg talk... mostly that it’s crazy.
It’s no secret that Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey aren't the best of friends. Over the course of their UFC careers, the two women developed a somewhat bitter rivalry. Centered in part around Tate’s pair of title challenges to Rousey’s belt, and more particularly to their time as opposing coaches on the Ultimate Fighter.
And while that context can’t be ignored, Tate’s recent comments on Sirius XM Rush’s MMA Tonight podcast – directed at talk of Ronda Rousey coming back to fight Cris Cyborg – don’t sound like they’re coming from a place of dislike for the MMA superstar (transcript via MMA Fighting).
“I’m gonna give Cyborg a round of applause,” Tate said in response to Cyborg saying she wasn’t interested in a fight with Rousey, “because she wouldn’t look more like a bully than if she took that fight with Ronda. That would be ridiculous. It’s just nonsense to even think about that. I cannot believe that Edmond would suggest something so asinine.”
Tate did have a solid idea of why she thinks that Tarverdyan is making the suggestion, however; why he’d be willing to put his star pupil at risk for a 3rd straight knockout loss.
“It’s just kind of silly,” Tate said. “I think Edmond just wants another payday so he can try to pay off his bankruptcy issues, because Jiminy Christmas. Poor Ronda. I’m not her biggest fan, but I wouldn’t even want to see that fight. I’m not her biggest fan, but I wouldn’t want to see her get slaughtered by Cyborg at this point in her career, either. It’s not appealing. That’s not what this sport is about. It’s about great competitive matchups and I just don’t feel like it’s even fair to ask for something like that. If you were looking out for your athlete, why would you do that?”
In the meantime – and despite what her coach may say – there have been no signs from Rousey that she’s at all entertaining a return to MMA. Following her December 2016 defeat to Amanda Nunes, Rousey has courted a run in the WWE with her ‘Four Horsewomen’ angle and grabbed a coaching spot on Battle of the Network Stars. Back in August, Dana White told Sports Illustrated that he thinks the former champion is likely to announce her retirement in the not-too-distant future. At this point that seems more likely than Rousey returning for a shot at the Cyborg and the featherweight title.