Two of Ronda Rousey’s biggest rivals Miesha Tate and Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino could scarcely contain their glee on Saturday night after watching the superstar get knocked out by Holly Holm in front of 56,000 fans at UFC 193 in one of the biggest upsets in combat sports history.
“I’m f-cking stoked; f-ck Ronda Rousey,” Tate stated on the mic at a Gentleman’s Club in Las Vegas where she’d watched the fight with her partner Bryan Caraway. “F-ck her and her ‘Nobody has the right to beat me.’ Nobody has the right to beat you? Well you just got beat, b-tch. … Anyways, I’m proud of Holly. She had a perfect, flawless game plan. She came in with it (Saturday) and now she is the champion.”
Tate had originally been promised the fight Rousey herself, but was then furious to learn that the UFC had changed their mind and given Holly Holm the opportunity instead, citing the fact that Tate had already lost twice to the champion in the past.
That left Tate fuming and she’s since threatened possibly retiring due to the way she’s been treated, but the fact that her nemesis has just been defeated now changes the entire complexion of the division and she now believes that she could be next in line to the fact the division’s new champion.
“I’m looking forward to that fight,” Tate said of a potential title fight with Holm. “I think I’m next in line.”
If she truly believes that then the 29 year-old may be in for another disappointment as Dana White has already stated the obvious – that a rematch between Rousey and Holm now makes the most sense, though certainly if Holm was to defeat her again then Tate would be in a prime position to challenge her for the belt, perhaps before the end of 2016.
Cris ‘Cyborg’ may have something to say about that though, and indeed she too was eager to share her delight after watching Rousey’s unbeaten reign of dominance come to an end in Australia.
“Amazing fight congratulation Holly Holm!” ‘Cyborg’ wrote on Twitter after initially posting a smiley face when the head kick KO landed.
However, the former Strikeforce and current Invicta FC 145lb champion then got the knives out for Rousey who she’s been engaged in a war of words with for several years.
“I don’t understand why you would decide to be a #DNB when you’re getting kicked in the head,” a reference to Rousey’s infamous rant about not being a “Do Nothing B*tch” which went viral in the build-up to UFC 190 earlier in the year.
However, in the cold light of day Rousey’s loss is far from ideal for ‘Cyborg’ as she’s been calling for a fight with the former champion for year, and after a long series of delays due to the Brazilian’s issues with cutting down to the 135lb limit, even Dana White was indicating prior to UFC 193 that she was next in line to fight Rousey.
UFC 200 had been tentatively targeted for that showdown which has been years in the making and it would have been an absolutely enormous fight, but for now those plans have once again been shelved and so as things stand ‘Cyborg’ may just have missed out on the biggest pay-day of her life.
As much as she dislikes Rousey, the best thing the 30 year-old ‘Cyborg’ can now hope for is that Rousey wins her inevitable rematch with Holm which would then most likely pave the way for her to finally get that blockbuster fight she’s been calling for with the biggest star in the sport.
Until then though both of Tate’s rivals will surely have to fight at least one more time, and you have to wonder what’s the odds are that the UFC might try and line up a fight between ‘Cyborg’ and Tate to establish a clear No.1 contender to fight the winner of a Holm Vs Rousey rematch?
