Photos: Cat Zingano has successful surgery, Rousey and Tate face off

Hot on the heels of the announcement that Ronda Rousey will indeed be facing off with the woman she took the title from in Miesha Tate, two photos have been released illustrating the dramatic turn of events. 

The first, released by Cat Zingano on Twitter, shows her beginning recovery from knee surgery. All the best goes to Cat and her camp, because she earned the right to face Rousey in what would have been a fight between undefeated fighters. She finished ‘Cupcake’ in the third round of a slugfest that Tate was most likely winning on the judges’ scorecards.

The second photo shows Rousey and Tate squaring off on the opening set of The Ultimate Fighter season 18, where Tate will replace Zingano as coach in a season sure to be full of tension and animosity. Rousey was initially angry to see Tate but quickly grew to love the matchup.

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Although we see many rivalries that seem fabricated and only to garner PPV buys, it seems that these two women truly do not like each other, stemming back to their intiial Strikeforce title bout.

And for good reason. After a lengthy buildup of back-and-forth trash talk, Rousey literally tore the ligaments from Tate’s elbow. But give Tate credit as well, because she survived through of series of the most gruesome armbar attempts we’ve ever seen. Will the outcome be the same? Perhaps, or on the other hand, we could have a huge ongoing rivalry starting up. It’s a longshot, but either way, TUF 18 just got a lot more dramatic this evening.

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Check out their staredown: