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Ronda Rousey Denied! Why Miesha Tate Won’t Be Fighting Her Old Rival At UFC 200

By Toni Matthews
Published on: 07:43 PST, Apr 8, 2016

The world isn’t standing still for Ronda Rousey in her quest to start fresh in the UFC women’s bantamweight division. Since being on the receiving end of a stunning knockout by Holly Holm, Rousey has taken time away from the Octagon to get her head right and do a bit of soul-searching. Now, Bleacher Report says that Ronda plans to be a dominant UFC force once more.

It turns out her path to dominance is going to be a little longer than anyone thought.

We all had good reason to believe that the next time we’d see Ronda Rousey, it would be at UFC 200 against Holly Holm. However, Holly Holm had no intention of waiting a year before fighting, instead opting to face Miesha Tate at UFC 196. That event saw Tate submit Holm and led many to speculate that UFC 200 would see another rematch between Miesha and Ronda.

Ironically, Tate has decided to follow Holm’s example and defend her bantamweight title against someone who isn’t Ronda Rousey. The Washington Post reports that it will be Miesha Tate against relative newcomer Amanda Nunes.

Since joining the UFC, Nunes has a 5-1 record. She’s currently on a three-win winning streak. It’s still too soon to determine what kind of mark Amanda will make in women’s MMA fighting, but she’s already making the case for being a truly formidable opponent.

As for Ronda, UFC President Dana White said that she won’t be “fight ready” until Fall 2016 at the earliest.

It’s easy to argue that the decision by Miesha Tate to fight Amanda Nunes has complicated things for herself and the division. She could lose to Amanda Nunes on July 9 in a stunning upset. That would mean there would be not one, not two, but three former champions who had yet to get a rematch for the title. So then, who would have the best argument for an immediate rematch? Who is the top contender among those three women?

Ronda Rousey only suffered one defeat in her UFC career, and yet by the time the MMA summer event happens, enough time will have passed — and champions maybe? — to make it hard to argue that she’s the most obvious choice.

And what if Nunes (if she were victorious) decided not to fight any of those women, preferring to take on Cat Zingano, a woman who handed Amanda her only UFC loss in November 2014. It seems that a series of decisions has rather unintentionally made the women’s bantamweight division more open and exciting than it’s ever been.

Even now, it’s looking less and less likely that Ronda Rousey will be able to re-establish herself as a dominant force in women’s MMA without facing down some old demons.

Miesha Tate could very well fend off Amanda Nunes and extend her winning streak. Still, there’s a chance that Ronda will have to stand up to another top contender before she gets to Tate. Many want to see Ronda Rousey face Holly Holm in the Octagon. Although some fans have pointed to Tate’s stellar performance as proof Holly is a “fluke,” it’s important to remember that Tate and Holm are two very different fighters. While Holm dominated Rousey, Holm was herself beaten by Tate — who herself lost to Rousey twice. Therefore, it’s hard to use any of these women as an “ability gauge” against one another.

The only proof of whether or not Ronda Rousey’s loss was a fluke would be present in the outcome of a rematch. If that doesn’t sound palatable to Ronda, she can always put accusations of dodging Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino to rest with a comeback fight.

It may very well be another year before we know if Ronda Rousey still has it in her to be a dominant fighter or if someone else dominates the division instead. We could even find that a Ronda-less UFC bantamweight division means that there is no one dominant champion, with the belt repeatedly changing hands.

What outcome do you think is most likely? Was it a mistake for Miesha Tate to not wait for Ronda Rousey to return? Share your thoughts below.

[Photo by Matt Roberts/Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]

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