Quote: Miesha Tate Is More Dangerous Than Ronda Rousey

Holly Holm will reportedly be defending her newly won UFC women’s bantamweight title against Miesha Tate in the co-main event of UFC 197. Holm’s coach Mike Winkeljohn recently appeared on Submission Radio and explained that Tate is the #1 one contender for the title, so this fight makes sense instead of waiting on Ronda Rousey to recover and fight late in 2016.

“We, as a camp, always figured, ‘Give it to the No. 1 contender,’,” Winkeljohn said. “”Miesha Tate is No. 1. That makes sense. I think Tate did the best of everyone against Ronda Rousey. I think she deserves it. That makes sense to us, and Holly would love to have that fight.”

Winkeljohn believes that Holm did a great thing at UFC 193 when she knocked out Rousey to win the title but understands that Tate is no joke and is actually more dangerous than Rousey is.

“It was the hardest in that [Holm] was up against this legendary status and the pressure was incredible,” Winkeljohn said of Holm bout with Rousey. “Although, being the underdog takes a lot of pressure off you. There’s different styles out there. Miesha Tate is going to scramble all day long while Ronda was trying to get quick submissions. There’s a difference in how that plays out. In many ways, Miesha is more dangerous than Ronda Rousey.”

“Not overall, but for different parts of the fight, there are women out there that can be tougher than Ronda Rousey. In the scramble? I think Miesha Tate is better than Ronda Rousey.”

That’s a pretty bold statement since Rousey has beaten Tate twice. Rousey beat Tate in March of 2012 by first-round armbar to become the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion and then in December of 2013 at UFC 168; Rousey submitted Tate with an armbar in the third round to retain her UFC Women’s bantamweight championship.

Tate (17-5) is currently on a four-fight winning streak. In her last six bouts, she’s 4-2.

You can check out the full interview here:

UFC 197 takes place on March 5th from Las Vegas, Nevada.