UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate appeared recently on RJ Clifford and Steve Cofield‘sSiriusXM Rush Fight Club for a wide ranging discussion. It naturally included former division champion Ronda Rousey generally, and the allegation that ‘Rowdy’ bullied Paige VanZant.
“I think Ronda is somewhat emotionally unstable,” said Tate, as transcribed by Jed Meshew for MMA Fighting. “And I think that’s been characteristic for a long time. Doesn’t mean she fights any worse for it. I’m not knocking her as an athlete but emotionally she’s just got some things that are a little bit strange and I think that that was one of them.”
“I feel like you can tell a lot about a person who, if they’re nice to people that they don’t have to be nice to or if they’re not nice to people that they don’t have to be nice to, and I feel like things that sometimes people don’t see on the massive media outlets is the way Ronda is behind scenes.
“This is just one example. This is a big reason why Ronda and I don’t get along. It’s not even the career, it’s the difference in our personal perspectives. That’s why we have the rivalry. We just happen to also be in the same profession and fighting in the same weight class and that’s what people are really interested in but truly this is where I disagree with Ronda the most.
“This is why I feel like I identify with Paige more. She’s so kind and when this whole thing happened she was like, ‘we’re emotional beings and hopefully I can make it right with Ronda’ and she’s still such a sweetheart but I’m not that way….
“When Ronda does things like that to me I’m just like, ‘No, eff you.’ I’m not gonna bow down and not say how I feel.”
No MMA discussion about about Ronda Rousey is complete without a segue to Conor McGregor.
“He has done amazing things for our sport and he’s a huge piece in all of this, he really is,” said Tate. “He’s a star. He’s a great fighter, he’s a great talker, he’s hilarious, he sells cards well. Nobody can refute that.
“But when you say, ‘someone deserves a break or special treatment,’ I don’t disagree with that. My point is he already gets that. A lot. They wanted to fly him out three months before UFC 200 in a private jet where he could have up to twenty people come with him. No one else gets that. Nobody else. That is preferential treatment. That is special.
“He can bring his entire camp with him and work out on the plane if he wants to because it’s his plane! It’s private. He gets here and he gets a huge penthouse suite, he gets put up in a house, he gets a butler, he gets whatever he wants. The UFC will accommodate him in any way that they can because he is special. And that’s cool. I don’t mind that but then what’s your excuse? You’re already getting preferential [treatment], you’re already getting all these great things that nobody else gets.”
“The UFC has gone above and beyond to accommodate him and you’ve got to think about this too: how did Conor McGregor become Conor McGregor? If there was no UFC you wouldn’t know who he was. It’s been a mutual effort on both their parts. The UFC has spent a tremendous amount of money promoting Conor McGregor and he’s made a lot of money – for himself and for them – but it’s teamwork. They’re both working hard to create something great and it has been great but don’t change now Conor. Stay the course. This is what you’ve been doing this is what got you here. Don’t get big headed and now think that you’re above it because I think that’s the downfall.
“The UFC is still the UFC at the end of the day; they will move on without Conor, they will move on with or without me, they’ll move on with or without Ronda. They are the masters at making stars and they made Conor McGregor – with his help. So they will make another Conor McGregor if they want to, if he doesn’t want to be Conor McGregor anymore. But he kind of made his own bed and he’s great at it but I figure don’t change what you’re doing.”
“Maybe there will never be another Conor McGregor like him, but there will be more stars to come.”
Miesha Tate fights Amanda Nunes at UFC 200 on July 9th, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
