Miesha Tate threw a big spanner in the works on Saturday night when she choked out Holly Holm at UFC 196 to become the new woman’s bantamweight champion of the world.
That throws the UFC’s plans for a blockbuster Rousey Vs Holm rematch out the window, with Dana White indicating that a trilogy fight is now on the cards instead.
“I think that Ronda now will fight Miesha Tate for the title,” White told ESPN’s “SportsCenter”. “That’s what’s going to happen. That’s what I said before this fight even happened.”
White had contacted Rousey via text message after Tate’s victory and said that the former champion claimed not to have seen the fight. However, after being informed that Tate had won she responded by saying, “Oh well, back to work for me.”
While Holm looked like she had Rousey’s number in their first fight, she’ll feel much more confident about a third fight with Tate given that she already holds two wins over her – one in Strikeforce and one in the UFC.
Also, when Rousey does eventually get around to watching the Tate Vs Holm fight she’ll likely fancy her chances of exposing the weaknesses in Holm’s ground game if they ever do get around to having a rematch as well.
There’s no doubt that the happiest person coming out of Saturday night is Tate though, and she joked post-fight that she’d told her partner, fellow UFC fighter Bryan Caraway that this was going to be a, “red boxer-brief night” – a reference to Conor McGregor’s infamous ‘red panty night’ quip.
While she’s not said so publicly, it’s easy to imagine that Tate will have an extra sense of satisfaction at having upset the UFC’s plans given that just a few months ago they had infuriated her by first announcing that she’d be fighting Rousey for the title, but then giving Holm the opportunity instead.
Holm has admitted that she was close to retirement after that body blow, but her determination to get the title shot she feels she’s earned has finally paid off.
