Miesha Tate had a fierce rivalry with Ronda Rousey and she’s glad that she did.
Tate lost two bouts to “Rowdy,” but the feud will go down in history as one the best in mixed martial arts (MMA). The two never hid their ill feelings toward each other in the buildup to their fights.
Now that both women have a legacy of being pioneers of women’s MMA, “Cupcake” has had some time to reflect. She told MMAJunkie.com that she’s grateful to have had such a historic rivalry:
“In hindsight, I definitely feel like it was a good thing. I feel like I was blessed to have a rival like Ronda Rousey. Because, without the two of us, there wasn’t enough. She wasn’t enough by herself, and I wasn’t enough, definitely, by myself.”
Tate realizes the importance of her first bout with Rousey as it helped bring women’s MMA to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
“It was the two of us together, our fight in Strikeforce, that made (UFC President) Dana White and (former UFC CEO) Lorenzo Fertitta say, ‘Wow, OK, maybe the UFC can have a women’s division, because these two were competitive.’”
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