Meisha Tate Happy To Face Rousey, When Her Record Warrants A Title Shot

By Mark Wayne | January 03, 2012

Strikeforce women's bantamweight champion Miesha Tate has been in the news more lately than perhaps at any other time during her fourteen-fight professional career and it's because of Ronda Rousey.

Rousey, a 24-year-old Olympic-level Judo player and undefeated MMA fighter, burst onto the scene last year by virtue of her impressive record and brash personality. Rousey stirred the pot in campaigning for a title shot against Tate, which has led to an ongoing feud/debate between the two, as well as several other female fighters.

While Rousey maintains (correctly) that a fight between the two would be a huge draw at this point and would likely generate more interest than a bout between Tate and perhaps more deserving contenders like Sarah Kaufman, Tate believes that experience alone should merit a title shot.

"I think down the road, for sure, I would have no problem fighting her," Tate said of Rousey during a recent interview with FightHubTV. "My only qualm with her is that she's 4-0, she's 2-0 for Strikeforce, and she's challenging in a weight division that she hasn't competed in yet. I just don't think, at 4-0, that she's earned her title shot. She hasn't beat any top contenders in the weight class. When you have girls like Sarah Kaufman, who're 14-1, and Alexis Davis, who're 11-4, and are beating the top, top girls, it would only make sense that they would be in line before Ronda. I don't agree with her trying to ride the marketability of the fight. That means that she's more deserving over those other girls, including myself.

"My twentieth fight overall was my title fight. So, I put in twenty fights. She's put in seven, including her amateur career. She's gotta pay her dues. If she goes down to 135 and she just keeps winning like she has been at 145 then it'd be no problem and I'd have no problem fighting her."

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