The UFC will end 2013 with a bang, with women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and rival Miesha Tate set to meet in the Octagon for a second time in December.
President Dana White confirmed the bout Monday but didn’t say if the match would be the headliner or a title fight.
Rousey (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) and Tate (13-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC) first faced off in Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey in March 2012. Rousey won the bout by armbar submission at 4:27 in the first round to win the women’s bantamweight championship. She became the first women’s champion in UFC history after Zuffa, the promotion’s owner, bought Strikeforce and brought the remaining fighter contracts into the UFC. She defended her title against Liz Carmouche in the first-ever UFC women’s match at UFC 157 in February.
Tate lost her UFC debut to Cat Zingano during the season 17 finale of The Ultimate Fighter in April.
Rousey and Tate are currently judges on season 18 of TUF. Initially, Zingano was set to coach opposite Rousey but was forced to withdraw after a knee injury and subsequent surgery. White said that Tate and Rousey’s rivalry carried over to the show and is getting out of control .
“It’s going exactly the way you’d expect it to be going, bad! I’m dead serious. Miesha and Ronda hate each other. It’s literally crazy drama every day. It’s irritating. It’s Ken-Tito type stuff,” White said. “I don’t even know if some of the stuff will make TV. It’s bad. Those two do not like each other and their camps do not like each other. And it’s just pure f***ing mayhem every day.”
White said about the year-end match, “Ronda and Miesha is just — leading up to that fight, that’s going to be nasty.”
Are you excited for Rousey vs. Tate II? Do you think it will be the headliner of UFC 168?