TUF 18 coaches Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate will clash for a second time in a title fight at the UFC 168 on December 28th in Las Vegas.
Rousey and Tate first fought in the Strikeforce promotion, with Rousey emerging the winner with a trademark armbar submission at 4.27mins of the first round to claim the title
Since then Rousey successfully defended her belt against another former champion Sarah Kaufman before moving to the UFC and confirming her status as the first ever female champion of the promotion with another first round armbar win over Liz Carmouche.
Meanwhile, Tate required several months off to heal a badly damaged arm following her first encounter with Rousey, but did then bounce back with a win over Julie Kedzie in the Strikeforce promotion before she too migrated to the UFC.
She didn’t get off to a successful start in the Octagon though, putting on a solid performance in the first two rounds against Cat Zingano before succumbing to a TKO loss in the third.
That result lead to Zigano being awarded the next title shot and a spot on TUF 18 as a coach, but just a few weeks before filming was due to start she suffered a serious knee injury and had to withdraw in order to get surgery.
That handed Tate the opportunity of a lifetime to coach on TUF and get the title shot instead and she grabbed it with both hands. Word from the set is that the existing bad blood between the two has continued on the show and so there should be a fair bit of momentum for this match-up by the time the holiday season comes around.
