Miesha Tate beat Holly Holm for the UFC women’s bantamweight championship, and within an hour, it was announced that her first title fight would be a trilogy fight with former division champion Ronda Rousey. Trash talk has become a staple of the game, because it works.
Former and present UFC light heavyweight champions Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier recently reach far back, to about the first grade, and argued about who touched who first, before their fracas as a media event in 2014. Women’s trash talk can be a little different.
Tate spoke recently with TMZ Sports, and questioned Rousey’s motivation.
“I am interested in it, for sure,” began Tate. “I was supposed to fight her when Holly beat her. So I was prepared and ready for that. And I’ve been ready for that, for a long time.
“But I also know that Ronda is not slated to come back until November, and that’s kind of a long time to sit and be idle. Now that I’m the champion, I feel that I have unlimited energy.
“I don’t even know what she is thinking right now. It seems like her motivation to stick around was to have Travis Browne’s baby. So, I don’t know.
“I’m just sayin’. It came from her. I didn’t say it. She said it. She’s like alright ‘I lost this belt and my motivation was to have Travis Browne’s babies. So that doesn’t sound like a very motivated comeback.”
“Every time I’ve ever lost, my motivation is to get back up on the horse. And fight someone again. And work my way back up to the top.
“So …”
Tate’s remarks were based on Rousey’s appearance on the Ellen Degeneres show, her first after the loss to Holm. Rousey related that immediately after the fight she was struck momentarily with thoughts of suicide.
I was literally sitting there and thinking about killing myself and that exact second I’m like, ‘I’m nothing, what do I do anymore and no one gives a s*** about me anymore without this,’ said Rousey with tears in her eyes.
To be honest, I looked up and I saw my man Travis was standing up there and I looked up at him and I was like, ‘I need to have his babies. I need to stay alive.’”
