Miesha Tate will never get an opportunity to avenge her losses against Ronda Rousey, but maybe she can exercise some of those demons through another Olympic-level judoka.
Tate found ‘Rowdy’ twice in her career, once under the Strikeforce banner and another inside the Octagon in 2013. Tate lost both bouts via armbar before finally climbing to the top of the bantamweight mountain, choking out Holly Holm —the fighter who ended Rousey’s title reign and undefeated run four months prior — to become a UFC champion for the first and only time in her career.
It seemed like the stars had aligned for a Tate vs. Rousey trilogy fight.
Unfortunately, it never came to fruition.
‘Rowdy’ would only fight once more inside the Octagon, suffering an especially brutal first-round knockout loss against Amanda Nunes before calling it quits on her combat sports career.
Never to have a chance at redemption, Rousey’s retirement left a bad taste in Tate’s mouth, but now, ‘Cupcake’ may have another opportunity to show what she can do against a judoka with two-time Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison running roughshod through the division.
“I have desperately wanted to show how much better I can do now against a judoka than ever,” Tate told MMA Fighting after facing Rousey, an Olympic bronze medalist in judo. “Because I did lose those first two matches to Ronda, and I just didn’t understand it. I have an entirely different coaching staff now. I have people who really can mimic someone who has a judo background when at that time when I was facing Ronda, it was impossible to find women who were high-level in judo but also OK with me punching them in the face as I’m trying to not get thrown.
“I couldn’t find it. I did train with some men, but the men weren’t as slick as Ronda. There were a lot more about muscling things. So since that moment in time, I’ve been] trying to be much better at [judo]. I feel like I finally have the tools. So at any point, even if it’s not for a title fight, I do think it would be great to fight Kayla Harrison.”
Miesha Tate eager to prove she can beat a judoka inside the Octagon
Coming off a big win over Julia Avila in December 2023, Tate will return to the Octagon this Saturday at UFC Des Moines for a scrap with Yana Santos. If ‘Cupcake’ makes it two-in-a-row, she could find herself with a top 10 ranking and one very big step closer to a potential clash with Harrison.
“Kayla is a very revered judoka,” Tate said. “She’s got similar credentials to Ronda. She’s her own fighter, she’s her own person. It wouldn’t be as sweet as vindicating those two losses to Ronda, however, it would be a great second and I would take that.
“I would take pride in people saying you know what, I think Miesha was right. She was able to back up what she said and she did learn a lot about judo and she was able to beat Kayla Harrison and likely if they ever had that third fight, she’d beat Ronda, too.”
A two-time PFL champion, Harrison will look to add UFC gold to her collection when she challenges reigning bantamweight queen Julianna Pena at UFC 316 on June 7. It will be Pena’s first time defending the title since landing a highly controversial split decision W over Raquel Pennington in October.
