White: Eye vs. Tate ‘sometime in June’

With the announcement that Bethe Correia gets the next shot at UFC women’s bantamweight championship, the other leading contender, Jessica Eye, was left without an opponent. Now UFC president Dana White has announced that Eye will be fighting Miesha Tate in fight for the #1 contender spot.

White would not commit to an exact date, but said only the fight would be “sometime in June.” That means it is at one of the four announced events that month:

•UFC Fight Night: Cormier vs. Bader on June 6 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

•UFC 188: Velasquez vs. Werdum on June 13 in Mexico City, Mexico.

•UFC Fight Night 69 on June 20 in Berlin, Germany.

•The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 4 Finale on June 27 in Brazil. City has not been announced.

If Tate wins, she will get the next shot at Rousey, if the Rousey vs. Correia does not end in some way that merits and immediate rematch. Tate has fought Rousey twice, first in Strikeforce and then in the UFC. Rousey won both, going into the third round at UFC 169. It remains the sole time Rousey saw a ring card girl.

Tate has won three straight since, most recently a unanimous decision win over Olympic silver medalist Sara McMann on Jan 31.

Eye is 8-1 with one NC her last ten fights. The loss was a split decision to McMann. The NC was a win over Sarah Kaufman that was changed to No Contest when Eye failed a marijuana test in Texas that had a low threshold no longer followed by WADA.

Much of the personal disagreement between fighter in mixed martial arts is designed to put asses in seats. Khabib Nurmagomedov in all likelihood has nothing personal against Donald Cerrone, he simply wants a title shot and a living, and knows that stirring things up hastens the process. In the case of Rousey and Tate, the loathing is real. Thus, if Tate wins, despite losing twice, it could still build to big fight.