By Ethan Miller, Getty Images
Strikeforce champion Miesha "Takedown" Tate views her next opponent as a series of deficiencies sheathed in a veneer of judo flash.
As far as the 135-pound women's titleholder is concerned, upcoming challenger "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey lacks honesty, humility, respect for others, versatility as a fighter and possibly persistence in trying times. For Tate, next month's bout with Rousey offers the chance to test an undeserving upstart.
"I want to frustrate her," Tate says. "I'm curious to see how she's going to take it when I'm elbowing her in the face. When she's on her back and I'm dropping bombs from above her, is she doing to curl up and give up or is she going to fight back? … If she has a big heart for the sport, we'll find out. But I doubt it's as big as mine."
Tate recently spoke to USA TODAY ahead of her March 3 showdown against Rousey in Columbus, Ohio. Excerpts from the conversation:
Q: This is your first time headlining a Strikeforce card. Any added pressure that comes with that?
Tate: It's just more excitement. I'm all about getting the exposure and getting new people into MMA and supporting women's MMA, and I think this is the perfect opportunity to capitalize on that.
Ronda has been fairly aggressive about promoting herself. Do you think the back and forth that's gone on between you and Ronda and some of the other female fighters might boost the viewership of this card?
I do, actually. I think people really feed into the drama of it all.
For me, it's very real. I'm not the kind of person that will create drama, just because. I really say how I feel because that's really honestly how I feel about it.
I'm not sure if Ronda is the same. I think Ronda likes to say things and hype things. It's not necessarily who she is away from the camera or the limelight.
But I can assure you that mine is sincere and I really don't care for Ronda.
What bothers you about her?
I just think that she has a certain element of a lack of respect. I think she just comes off as very self-entitled.
I don't feel she's entirely earned her spot as the No. 1 contender. I don't feel that she is the No. 1 contender necessarily in the 135-pound division. The rightful contender would be Sarah Kaufman at this point.
However, I'm not taking away from what she has accomplished in her short MMA career, being 4-0, all impressive wins; and then having the Olympic judo background. Obviously, it's nothing to scoff at. I realize that she's going to be a tough opponent and I'm sure she'll be a true testament.
I'm looking to fighting her March 3. She's a talented athlete. That will make for a good fight.
I think that's the fight that people want to see the most at this point, as far as women's MMA is concerned, and I think that's why Strikeforce picked this. Because I think there's a number of things they have to take into consideration when putting fights together for women's MMA, in that they're trying to gain the most following and the most momentum.
All those things taken into consideration, as well as an entertainment value aspect, the smart business decision was to go with the fight that people wanted to see the most, and I feel that is me versus Ronda.
But should business considerations be the primary factor in matchmaking?
Well, if you want to talk about legitimizing the sport, no, because I think it takes away a little bit in the sense that Sarah Kaufman was promised the title shot and she was the rightful contender. She's 14-1, her only loss coming to the former champion, and she actually holds a win over myself almost three years ago, I believe, now. So that makes for an interesting match-up.
But what it says is, if you are the type of marketable (person) that we're looking for and you run your mouth enough, you can get a title shot. Therefore, I think, that kind of takes away from the legitimacy of the sport and how the ranking system works, and who's rightful, and who's not.
But like I said, there's also the entertainment aspect. This is not just a sport like the Olympics where it's just a sport. This is a mixture of where we have to entertain the fans, as well. With that taken into consideration, I think they made the best decision to ensure the future of women's MMA in matching Ronda and myself.
That's a carefully worded answer.
Yeah. I had to think about it. (laughs)
The argument that Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker and others have put forth is that you can't just look at Ronda's 4-0 record, that her Olympic experience legitimizes her as a fighter. Why isn't that argument valid?
It is valid to a degree. However, judo is not MMA; it can be a facet of it.
But this is mixed martial arts, meaning that you have to combine the best forms of the martial arts in every area, in every aspect, in order to be the best. I don't feel that Ronda, with her limited MMA experience, has reached that level yet. She's very good at doing what she does, but I don't feel that what she does inside the cage is enough to become the next champion.
I have years of experience in putting everything together and I like having a wrestling background -- I've competed against men for four years. I may not be an Olympic-level wrestler, but I am a very high-caliber grappler and I believe I have world-class skills in that.
I took a silver medal in 2008 FILA World Grappling Championships and that was against -- I don't even remember, it was a pretty good number, 40 countries or something like that. With that being said, that was actually the same year that she took a bronze medal in judo.
I feel, when everything's taken into consideration, I should be able to hang with her in every aspect, as well as excel and beat her in many of those. I don't feel she's so much better in any area.
The judo is just a different style match-up. I have the wrestling. She has the judo. Many times, wrestling trumps judo. I would say more often not, if you take a high-caliber wrestler and a high-caliber judo player and you match them up, usually the wrestler's going to win.
I feel if I go in with the right game plan, I'm really, really confident that not only am I going to win this fight, but I'm going to put on an impressive performance. I know a lot of people are really doubting me, but that's nothing new to me.
I think Ronda looks really desperate when she goes out there. She goes out there and she's so desperate to get that armbar inside the minute that it just goes to show that I don't really feel she feels she has much to offer, so she's got to do it and she's got to do it quick.
I may not have the quickest finishes in the world, but I've hung in there for longer amounts of times against much better quality opponents and everything.
I guess I'm just excited to go in there and show the world that if you're putting your money on Ronda, that's a good way to lose it.
It's her first time at 135. How much are you hoping to take advantage of cardio issues, especially given the way you typically grind on people?
Yeah, I want to frustrate her. I don't want to give her anything to make her feel confident in the fight. I want her to start second-guessing herself.
The mental strategy is something I have a lot more experience in too when it comes to the fighting aspect. It's different when you're down on the mat and someone's punching you in the face and you're being challenged and pushed in ways that you haven't experienced. It takes a very strong-minded person and a very strong-willed person to endure that.
It's much more endurance than the judo players typically go through. They don't spend a whole lot of time on the ground. They don't have to go through, I don't feel, that mental fight of, "I can't give up, I've got to keep pushing (even though) this hurts" or whatever else.
You have to find a way through adversity. She hasn't faced any adversity inside of MMA yet. I'm curious to see how she's going to take it when I'm elbowing her in the face. When she's on her back and I'm dropping bombs from above her, is she doing to curl up and give up or is she going to fight back? There are so many X factors that no one has pushed (with) her yet. I believe I'm the person to do that.
If she has a big heart for the sport, we'll find out. But I doubt it's as big as mine.
She thought that your title fight with Marloes Coenen was boring. What do you make of that observation?
Scott Coker told me that the ratings between Marloes and my(self) actually spiked higher than Dan Henderson and Fedor. I don't think it could have been that boring if a lot of people were really, really watching and tuned in. The numbers speak for themselves.
I would agree that it wasn't my most exciting performance. But I sustained a really serious injury at the very beginning of the fight with completely tearing out my MCL. I knew something was wrong and I had to kind of play it safe.
Marloes wasn't able to push me enough on the ground. I know I got in the bad position; in the second round I had my back taken and she wasn't able to capitalize on that.
But that's where I'm telling you I have the mental edge, because I came back after the second round, knowing I was hurt, knowing I was down a round. I was still able to come through in the fourth round, not only grinding out a decision, but I finished a fight against a girl who had never been submitted.
She was 19-4 at the time with most of her victories coming via submission -- actually most of them coming by armbar -- and yet I'm the first and only person to have submitted her, with an injury and being down a round. So I know what it takes to be a champion and to push through those times that are really tough and rough.
If she thinks she's just going to come in and just walk through me, she's really sorely mistaken and she's highly underestimating me.
Was that the same knee that was bothering you before the fight, when you were supposed to fight Marloes originally in March?
Actually, no, it wasn't. It was the other knee. Just my luck. It was just tough. It was one of those things that I had to make that decision.
I fought and it was what it was and I was able to come out with a win. I had to have a really, really strong mindset in order to pull through all of that, but I did and I'm really happy for it now. I'm going to be going into this fight 110% prepared.
I just think that she's going to be really surprised when she goes out there and she doesn't just throw me down in a minute and armbar me. She's going to have to really, really work for any kind of advantageous position because I'm absolutely not going to give it to her.
I think she may find herself doubting herself at times or find her(self) questioning. That's one thing I've learned through my experience (is) that you can't do that. You can't ever, ever do that. You have to always be confident and always be determined that if there's a will, there's a way; at every point of a fight, anything can happen.
That mental edge, I think, is going to play a huge factor in the outcome of this fight.
Why has Ronda's grappling been successful in MMA so far?
I think part of it is the style matchup. For the most part, she's fought girls that tend to be more strikers, so they don't have the grappling qualifications that (she) or I do. They've been good style matchups for her.
Also, their experience level -- the 145-pound division isn't very deep. If you were to compare the top-10 ranked 145ers to the top-10 ranked 135ers, you'll notice a huge difference in the experience level of their records.
Ronda Rousey is ranked No. 2 (at 145) and she's 4-0. … I'm ranked No. 1 (at 135), I'm 12-2. Marloes Coenen, I believe, is ranked No. 2 and she's 19-5. Sarah Kaufman is two or three and she's 14-1. So you're noticing a big difference in the records, and that is because the 135-pound division is much more full. There's more opportunity and more fights happening at that weight.
Again, it goes back to her feeling that she's self-entitled in a weight class that she's never competed, with a relatively new career and not a lot of experience. I don't know. I don't know where she gets off from it, but I guess that's just Ronda.
What are the key mistakes that her opponents have made?
They don't have the wrestling background. I think that's going to be a key, key element.
I can go and grapple a lot of jiu-jitsu black belts and out-position them all day because I have better balance with my hips and I have better scrambling ability.
And by scrambling, I basically mean I can beat them to the punch. If we were to race and see who could get off their back faster, I would get up faster. If we were racing to see who could pass the guard faster, I would do it faster. That comes from wrestling.
They always say it's position before submission. Generally, I stay in a pretty good position and I've beaten most of my opponents by being patient and staying in that position. I'm not real desperate to go out there and get a submission right off the bat because I know that I have plenty of facets and ways to beat someone.
That's what I did with Marloes. I waited until I saw the right opportunity and then I seized it and I was able to finish the fight.
So I would say her opponents, none of them have had a wrestling background. I think that that's going to be a different challenge for Ronda. I think she's really underestimating -- she's kind of full of herself, thinking, "Well, I have better takedowns because I'm judo this and judo that," and I'm kind of like, "Ok, whatever. I got it. Yeah, you're good at that, but I have so many things I'm good at that you're not acknowledging."
I'll give her credit where credit's due. I do acknowledge and I am preparing for everything that she's going to be bringing.
However, I don't feel that she's doing the same for me, and I think that's going to be where she falls short.
She says you're being hypocritical when you assert that she's been given opportunities mainly because she's good looking. What's the difference between some of the image promotion you've done in the past versus what she does?
It's not that I have any problem with her promoting being pretty or feminine in any way, shape or form. I'm actually all for it, because I think it garners more attention for women's MMA.
Because when you have a woman who embraces their femininity and all the things that you typically would think wouldn't go with something like fighting -- being feminine; wearing dresses; wearing heels; doing your makeup; doing your hair -- (those activities) typically aren't what you think of when you think of MMA and fighting and blood and sweat and violence. When you combine those two things, it really adds an interesting element, and I think that's where we get a lot of our viewership, where people kind of have that "Wow" factor.
So I think that's great. I've done a lot of the same things that Ronda is doing in self-promotion and I'm totally, totally OK with that.
Where I have the problem is her trying to sell the title fight based on that. I feel that she really hit the "Well, I'm marketable … so I deserve this title fight more than Sarah Kaufman, because you and I are both pretty fighters, and we will sell better than you and Kaufman would because Kaufman's not as pretty."
That's just not right. I think being pretty is a bonus. It shouldn't be what everything is based off of, because I have worked my (butt) off fighting to get where I'm at. I never once pulled the marketability card. "Well, hey, why don't you put me up there because I'm marketable? Look how pretty I am. I can sell tickets. I'm this and that." No, I never did that. I never ran my mouth. I never said "I'm marketing so I deserve this."
I fought and I beat the best. I earned my way up the rankings and I marketed myself along the way. That's the difference, I feel, between Ronda Rousey and myself, and I guess that's where my problem lies.
It has nothing to do with her marketing and being pretty. That's fine. I have no problem with that at all.
I just don't like the fact that she wants to try and say she deserves more because she's marketable. No, you need to earn your keep. You need to fight the best. You need to get there by winning fights, not by saying you're pretty.
The Columbus card also includes Kaufman vs. Alexis Davis, which seems like a matchup that could produce a title challenger. Who do you think will be the next No. 1 contender?
Well, let's put it this way. Sarah Kaufman and Alexis Davis fought once already and Sarah Kaufman defeated Alexis. I do think that it's one of Alexis' toughest matchups in that Sarah Kaufman is really hard to take down and I think she has the edge on the feet.
Alexis doesn't quite have the wrestling to get it to the ground. I'm not saying she can't get it to the ground, but I do think it will be more difficult for her. However … she's like a little juggernaut. She'll take punches. She'll keep coming. She won't give up. She'll go, go, go until the bell is over. She's always looking for a way to finish the fight. She just has no quit in her and she's just one of those people that you can never, ever count out.
So it's kind of tough for me to really say because I don't want to count Alexis out. So I don't know.
I'd like to fight Sarah Kaufman because that would give me a chance to avenge a loss. So I'd like to see that fight happen.
But I have a tremendous amount of respect for Alexis Davis, as well. If she beats Sarah Kaufman, I'd be happy to take her on as the next contender.
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