On his overnight podcast, Dave Meltzer said that Nunes was offered a fight with Tate (guessing the Ronda card) & awaiting to make it official. He then gave his opinion which is pretty similar to mine that it was a mistake to treat Tate the way they did & that the Dana comment that "everyone seen Tate vs Ronda" is not really true, because very few of the new Ronda crown has seen the SF match & a large portion of her current fanbase did not live through the last fight from 2 years ago.
Talk about a no win situation for Tate. If she loses, Nunes takes her spot. If she wins, she beat somebody that Alexis Davis, Cat Zingano and Sarah D'Alelio (eek) already beat. There's no advancement there. She'd be better of taking a fight where she could avenge a past loss (Kaufman or Zingano) or even fighting Cyborg - which is a win-win no matter the result and a huge opportunity for advancement.
we dont get the true story of what happened - ufc and tate must have had some scuffle over something, maybe her comments related to reebok pay sponsorship or something - we'll prob never know why the ufc decided to change paths drastically from guaranteeing her a title shot to playing the 'that fight has already been done' angle
I mentioned this in another thread. Tate has said recently that none of her sponsors had left her (since Reebok) & that they are supporting her with other avenues. My thinking is that this was purely a power play by Ronda to do two things: 1. To screw Tate 2. To have another chance at a 30 sce win Zuffa announces #1 contender fight Tate wins Dana & Tate discuss the Tate/Ronda fight at post presser All of that tells me that Tate & Zuffa were on board ... the missing piece is Rousey
Or they did some market studies figured what story they could sell in the mainstream on one of the craziest sports periods with the mainstream sports media talking about both the final week of the NFL regular season and the college football playoff that will begin 48 hours before.
Geez You are so clueless Wasnt Tate at one of the reebok expo? Reason the fight isn't happening is because the tate fight will be more popular for ufc 200 as ronda probably said she'd rather die than fight cyborg so the ufc are going with plan B
I thought Tate deserved the next shot, and I agree with Meltzer's argument for her getting it over Holm. I think Holm will do ok against Ronda though. She'll probably lose in round 1 or 2 but it won't be the execution that Correia was.
Tough shit. She's lost twice to the champ, decisively. What does she expect? It's not like she'd advance anywhere further if she loses to Rousey a third time, most likely in the first round. She'd be done for if that happens. If anything Dana is doing her a favor by delaying that.
She's been making comments about it since before her fight in July. My guess is they're scared of doing too many rematches in a short span (September, December and Feb all have title rematches) and Meisha got the short end.
Meh. I still rather watch someone that got to the 3rd round instead of a kickboxer that's gonna get tossed and subbed in less than a minute.
They changed the fight because of the backlash the rematch was getting from pretty much everyone, even on ESPN when they were discussing Rousey and how she'll prob face Miesha next, Ronda beating Miesha twice was one of the first things brought up. Ronda vs an undefeated world champion boxer is easier to sell to the casuals, than someone Ronda already beat twice . It doesn't really matter if they saw the fights or not because they would have been reminded of that fact a lot in what would have been the lead up to that fight
I had (and have) zero interest in seeing Ronda beat Tate again so soon, and the whole "we've seen it twice already" line would have been all well and good had Dana not come out and said she'd get the next shot. The UFC definitely talked about the fight like a done deal, and I think even Ronda came out and said she was looking forward to fighting Tate again. I don't like Tate at all, but this was a crappy way to handle it, especially if she really only found out when she saw Ronda's GMA interview.
They probably just crunched some numbers and realized they could make more money with Holm vs Rousey.
I disagree Tate is far more popular & has a build in story & rivalry The story of Ronda's dreaded rival & the only one to get out of the first round gets one last chance is far easier to sell than Holm Tate vs Ronda outdraws Holm easily
At UFC 200 after after casual fans who bought a ppv to see Ronda see Miesha take out a very dangerous contender. Right now no it might outsell Holm vs Rousey but not easily. Like I said people will be constantly reminded that Ronda beat her twice already and the fights really weren't all that competitive in the lead up to that fight. Holm is at least undefeated and the most credentialed striker in all of MMA add that to the footage Zuffa now owns of Holly knocking out cans in the minor leagues with Ronda's t/ko's and you have a decent promo
