You probably found out about the next title fight in the women’s bantamweight division before supposed number one contender Miesha Tate.
UFC president Dana White revealed after Tate’s victory over Jessica Eye that Cupcake was next in line for Ronda Rousey.
“Yeah, she is (number one contender),” White said at the post-fight press conference. “You know, Miesha is such a durable human being. She will stand in front of you and take what you’ve got. Because she was getting picked apart in that first round. She keeps coming forward to land what she has to land or get you to the ground or do what she has to do to win. She did it again tonight. She has worked her way back to Ronda Rousey.”
Fight fans weren’t overly enamoured with the idea of seeing a third Rousey-Tate fight after Rowdy dispatched with her rival via armbar on two occasions but Tate made the most sense if Cris Cyborg Justino was unable to make the bantamweight limit.
“I’ve been beating everyone who could potentially deserve a shot,” Tate told Ariel Helwani on the MMAHour earlier this month. “So you can’t tell me that there’s a single girl out there who deserves it more than I do right now. I’m confident in saying that because I told everyone that I would work my way back to the title and I would earn that, and I have. I’ve done it, and if there’s someone else who people are questioning, who’s like, ‘hey, what about this girl? She might deserve it more.’ Then okay, I’ll take her out too.”
It therefore came as a surprise when it was announced this morning that Rousey’s next opponent was not Tate, who has gone 4-0 since her last Rousey fight, but Holly Holm.
And Tate’s manager Josh Jones has revealed that his fighter wasn’t told by the promotion that they had changed their mind on the next women’s bantamweight title fight.
“I’m absolutely shocked,” Jones told MMAFighting.com. “I found out just like you did. Very disappointed to hear the news.”
“I want to know the reasons behind [the decision],” Jones said. “To not even be given a head’s up is very disappointing. She doesn’t even know yet. She is going to be absolutely shocked.”
While the UFC aren’t obliged to tell any fighter of a change of plan if a contract doesn’t exist, you’d have to agree that the proper thing to do would have been to give Tate a bit of a warning.
