Miesha Tate capitalized on Holly Holm’s inexperience in the ground game to take home the UFC women’s bantamweight title at UFC 196. The gutsy performance culminated years of playing second fiddle to Ronda Rousey in the WMMA world. But ‘Cupcake’ will get her chance to step out from behind Ronda’s shadow very soon.
Dana White has said on multiple occasions that Rousey will get an immediate title shot when she returns to the Octagon.
Sportsbook opened the line with Rousey being a -400 favorite with Tate coming back at +310. That line remained largely unchanged by the time UFC 200 rolled around with Ronda sitting at -400, but Miesha shifting to +330.
Though Tate will enter the bout on a five-fight winning streak and coming off an incredible performance to win the title, she has lost to Rousey twice in her career already.
The first encounter between the two fighters came back in Strikeforce in 2012. Tate, the Strikeforce champion at the time, lost via armbar in the first round. The second encounter between Rousey and Tate saw Miesha become the first fighter to ever make it out of the first round against Ronda. Ultimately, Rousey locked in her patented armbar to win that fight in the third round.
Since her last lost to Rousey, Tate has gone 5-0 with astonishing wins against Sara McMann, Jessica Eye and Holm.
Though we know that Rousey can beat Tate, you need to question where her head is at. There has been talk for a long time that Rousey has one foot out the door to start a full-time career in Hollywood, not to mention her admission of mental health issues following her loss to Holm.
- Miesha Tate +330
- Ronda Rousey -400
