A trilogy fight is usually every fan’s dream. Remember Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard? Georges St-Pierre vs. Matt Hughes? Gilbert Melendez vs. Josh Thomson? Those are bouts that every hardcore MMA fan should remember. With Ronda Rousey defeating Bethe Correia with ease at this past weekend’s UFC 190 event and Miesha Tate earning a unanimous decision against Jessica Eye, the trilogy between those two is set. So the question is — do you care?
Opposite Corners: Does anyone care about Rousey vs Tate III?
In this new series, some MMASucka.com staff will be placed in opposite corners and battle back and forth to see if you — the fan — should really care about Rousey vs Tate III.
Kyle Salas:
In all honesty, I’m very excited for this trilogy fight. Yes, people will point out that Tate is 0-2 against Rousey, but that shouldn’t be the main focus of this fight. What’s very important about it is the underlying theme to this bout: The Best versus The Contender. Miesha Tate has been the toughest test of Rousey’s career, taking her to the third round and fighting through everything ‘Rowdy’ threw at her. As much as the champ can toe around her impressive list of wins, the most standout number would be the three — instead of one — which was the round that the fight was stopped. This also represents what Women’s MMA has needed for a long time, a very dominant champion fighting her biggest rival in Tate, a contender who has been thrown off the ladder twice and still made it to the No. 1 contender slot in an evolving world of fighters as well as the sport itself.
Nick Baldwin:
I agree with Kyle on the fact that Rousey vs. Tate is the biggest title bout that women’s bantamweight matchmakers can put together. In the sense that it’s the most intriguing fight and would do the best numbers-wise. Just because Tate brought Rousey to round three in their rematch at the end of 2013 doesn’t make this trilogy intriguing to me. It’s the fact that ‘Rowdy’ dominated that entire fight and got the victory with ease. I do believe Tate has improved, and looked very good against Eye last month. But Rousey has also improved since December 2013 when they met at UFC 168. Rousey has beaten ‘Cupcake’ not just once, but twice, and neither wins were controversial. So why do I want to watch this trilogy bout, when it’s 2-0 for one person? I can see why I’d be semi-interested in Robbie Lawler vs. Johny Hendricks III. First off, it’s one-a-piece. Second, both contests were very close, went to decisions, and the second decision was even controversial. And no, I don’t know who’d win in a trilogy fight. But with Rousey vs. Tate III, yes, I’d pick Rousey once again to get the finish. I can’t fault the matchmakers here because despite my valid points saying why it’s not an interesting fight, it will sell because Rousey is the biggest star in the UFC and is somewhat mainstream. With that being said, this shouldn’t be an intriguing matchup in the eyes’ of hardcore fans, therefore, fans should not care about it.
Jeremy Brand:
The UFC will market the hell out of this fight because it’s Ronda Rousey. Everyone and their dog knows who Rousey is and lots of casual fans know who Miesha Tate is. Does this make the fight itself intriguing, no? But am I intrigued? Definitely. They always say, “Third times a charm.” I have no reason to pick against Rousey in this third fight, however, Tate has definitely shown an improved striking game in her last two outings against Eye and Rin Nakai. You can say that Rousey has also improved in that department, but her knockout of Correia was an all out slugfest with ‘Rowdy’ landing the bigger strikes. The fight will sell, the fight will last more than one round, mark my words.
Tanner Russ:
The fact that Miesha Tate is 0-2 against the “Rowdy” one does not in fact diminish the inevitable third match-up between the two. When the star power is there, two shutouts don’t really mean much in the selling of a fight. When Tito Ortiz thrashed Ken Shamrock for a third time, the ratings on Spike were phenomenal; when Wanderlei Silva knocked out Kazushi Sakuraba for the hat trick, it cemented his legacy of dominance in Pride; when Frankie Edgar shut down B.J. Penn in their trilogy it was (undeniably depressing, and) intriguing simply because Penn was dropping down to another weight class to try and revamp his career. What these examples are meant to say is that despite dropping her first two bouts against Rousey, Tate should still expect a large contingency of spectators to drop in and see if she can pull off the upset. Competitively, this fight shouldn’t be too terribly different from the first two outings. Rousey should do what she does best, and finish the fight on the mat or in tight quarters with her rapidly improving striking. Would I watch it expecting the unexpected? No, not necessarily, but if I miss a three-peat I’ve missed a part of history, now, haven’t I? And I expect that is what the common fan is thinking to themselves about this next bout as well.
