UFC women's bantamweight champion Miesha Tate believes the fact that Ronda Rousey had suicidal thoughts after her defeat to Holly Holm was a sign of "mental weakness" and questioned whether Rowdy will ever return to the Octagon.
Rousey, 29, has not fought since she lost her bantamweight title to Holm back in November, after which she admitted on the The Ellen DeGeneres Show to "thinking about killing myself" (via MMAjunkie).
Tate beat Holm earlier in March to claim the bantamweight belt, and she had some harsh words about Rousey's considerations of suicide, per SI Now’s Maggie Gray:
I thought that was a big sign of mental weakness, to be honest.
I’ve been down and out in this sport, too, obviously losing my fight to Ronda. That was really, really hard for me. But my mindset is to get back in the gym and get better, get stronger and learn from it and come back, and now here I am with the world title.
It makes me wonder what kind of a fighter will return when Ronda, if Ronda, does return.
Rousey and Tate have met twice before in their careers, with Rowdy prevailing on both occasions, and there is no love lost between the pair.
Most recently, they met at UFC 168 in 2013, having fought the year before for the Strikeforce women's bantamweight championship—see highlights below:
A third meeting has been mooted by UFC President Dana White for later this year, with Tate defending her title and Rousey making a comeback, per ESPN (via the MailOnline's Martin Domin).
The 29-year-old Tate said she is confident she can now beat her nemesis, but she is not completely sure whether Rousey will ever return to action, per Maxim:
I'm very confident. I was telling everyone that Ronda Rousey is not this unbeatable woman, and then Holly Holm went out there and kicked her head off, and I was like, "See? I told you she was only human." And then I went out there and choked out Holly. It just goes to show you on any given day that someone can go out there and win fights. I wanna rematch her. I'm so excited I have the belt. I’m supercharged, and I’m confident.
She's definitely been exposed for sure. I really question her mentality. I know the first thing I want to do when I come back from a loss is to get in the gym and get better. She said she wants to have kids with Travis Browne. I don't know where her mind is. Is this a comeback fighter? We’re questioning whether she’ll ever fight again. She's in a weird mental state.
Rousey's defeat to Holm in Melbourne was fairly devastating. It was the first loss of her professional MMA career, and it came via a brutal kick to the head, per BT Sport UFC:
She was a heavy favourite before the fight, but there is now no guarantee she can get back to her dominant best if and when she returns to action in the UFC.
However, there was a time when she was considered unbeatable, per Eurosport's Liam Happe.
She has beaten Tate twice before already, thus she should be confident of prevailing if they meet again.
Rousey was clearly shaken by her defeat to Holm, and Tate's confidence after becoming the champion is sky high.
It would be a fascinating fight were they to come together again for Tate-Rousey III, and MMA fans everywhere will be hoping that Cupcake is incorrect in questioning whether her fellow American will return to action.
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