Ronda Rousey is well-known for her unique athletic skills and even has Olympic medals and world titles to prove her abilities. However, everyone is not a fan. In an interview with FOX Sports, Miesha Tate explained the underlying reason for her competitive animosity toward Rousey. “Every single woman that fights MMA has done just as much work as Ronda has, we just haven’t gotten as much turnaround. Those women who came before her haven’t been on magazine covers, they weren’t plastered everywhere by the UFC. They didn’t get the same reward back. She got 10 times back what she was putting in and maybe everyone else was getting 1 to 1.” Touché.
Tate insists that she means no disrespect, and is just trying to present a more complete picture of what competitive fighters experience. “I know what it was like to be fighting for breadcrumbs and not to be taken seriously. I didn’t just jump into this. It’s no disrespect to Ronda, she’s a great athlete. But there’s another side to the story that people aren’t seeing. Girls didn’t get the same things Ronda has gotten.”
Rousey does have a strong supportive following who has watched her rise to fame. Tate explained why crowds continue to follow Rousey’s fights. “She runs her mouth. She’s very loud, very boisterous, very opinionated. Love her or hate her, you take notice of her. I think that’s the biggest thing. She’s different than most of the girls who fight in MMA. A lot of fans out there have the WWE mentality. Those are the fans that fell hook line and sinker and loved her. She was that controversial one, that s**t talker, she started drama.”
Rousey responded to the process of Tate “trying to talk her down” in a recent interview with Dave Doyle. “She goes on her interviews and says she’s going to finish me in the first round, ‘she has so many holes in her game, blah blah blah,’ she tries to talk me down all the time. She has to convince herself,” Rousey said.
However, Rousey did not get where she is today without being prepared. Her strategy has been to increase her training regime in anticipation of a powerful adversary. “I believe her when she says she’s in the best shape of her life. I believe her when she says her striking is the best in her life, I believe that she can have a perfect game plan and focused her game plan on my weaknesses and everything possible, everything. I assume she is going to be perfect. I’m prepared for a five-round brawl. What she is hoping for is for me to go out there and for me to make a mistake. I expect a whole lot more from her than she expects from me,” Rousey explained.
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