Dana White: Losing Another Fight To Ronda Wouldn’t Be Good For Miesha

It turned into quite the scene of surprise and perhaps even disgust online today (Fri., August 21, 2015) when it was revealed that Miesha Tate had been passed over for her supposedly ‘guaranteed’ title shot in favor of Holly Holm, who will face undefeated champion Ronda Rousey in the main event of UFC 195 next January 2, 2016 from Las Vegas.

Although she may have the dubious distinction of being the only woman to have two finish losses to the dominant ‘Rowdy,’ it seemed as if there were no better option after Tate beat Jessica Eye in a UFC on FOX 16 ‘title eliminator’ and Rousey destroyed Bethe Correia in the main event of UFC 190.

That may have been both a testament to Rousey’s leg up on her competition and Tate’s impressive four-fight win streak, and also the fact that a superfight against ‘Cyborg’ Justino has yet to become a reality. Well-known for saying one thing and change plans on a whim, UFC president Dana White told The Los Angeles Times that while the trilogy bout was their first thought, the same result of the first two ultimately did not justify that rivalry in their eyes:

“We were talking about Miesha from the start, then as we started sitting around we were saying, ‘Everyone has seen the Miesha fight already,’ ” White said. “A third fight in a rivalry usually comes after the stuff we’d see in [Arturo] Gatti-[Micky] Ward. With Miesha, the result has been the same twice. Everyone’s already seen that fight.”

The polarizing exec made a point that’s hard to argue against there, and White added another when he brought up the realistic dynamic that a third “Cupcake” loss would wreak havoc on Tate’s otherwise solid career:

“There’s two sides to the coin,” White said….”I’m not sure losing another fight to Ronda so soon would be good for Miesha. She’s not going anywhere. I think she’ll be fine.”

Tate has now been linked to a bout with fellow surging contender Amanda Nunes, where even a win could deny her a third shot at Rousey if the bout with ‘Cyborg’ eventually happens.

As for the current challenger, it’s still very debatable as to whether or not Holm is even close to ready to take on a challenge like Rousey. Two somewhat lackluster wins to begin her UFC career, especially her UFC 184 debut versus Raquel Pennington, had ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ facing harsh criticism. But White insisted that Holm’s striking expertise makes for a much more attractive bout than the Tate trilogy:

“Everyone has jitters in their first fight. Holly came back from that and destroyed a woman who’d looked damn good in her previous fights,” White said. “When you talk about the possibilities of what Holly can do … she’s a world-class boxer … the Holly Holm fight for Ronda is way more intriguing.””

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