A common concept in life is to ask and you shall receive. Holly Holm, a boxing-legend-turned-MMA-fighter, never asked to fight Ronda Rousey. She kept her head down, nose clean and chipped away at the women’s bantamweight division with humility as sharp as her world-class boxing.
Everyone knew Holm’s path was headed down a collision course with the arm-mangler, but no one anticipated she would arrive at her destination so soon.
We were ready to throw up our hands and concede to the idea of Rousey fighting Miesha Tate for a third time. The only claim to fame for Tate when it came to Rousey was the simple fact that she had lasted longer than any other opponent, but she had never presented any real danger for the champ.
Both fights typically consisted of Tate getting tossed around and bullied on the playground before being arm-barred into submission.
A third fight with Rousey was never out of the realm of possibility. It was even beginning to make sense after watching Tate mow down her fourth consecutive title contender in July.
Meanwhile, Holm was coming off a pair of uninspiring decision wins over Raquel Pennington and Marion Reneau.
Cat Zingano and Bethe Correia had just lost to Rousey in 48 seconds combined. Outside of Amanda Nunes, all of the other potential contenders had already been defeated by Tate. Nunes was coming off an impressive first-round knockout win over Sara McMann, who lost a decision to Tate earlier this year.
Tate made sense as the next title contender, and initially, that appeared to be the direction UFC President Dana White and company were headed in.
After Tate’s decision win over Jessica Eye nearly a month ago, White confirmed at the post-fight press conference that she was the next one in line for a shot at Rousey’s title:
Yeah, she is [the No. 1 contender]. You know, Miesha is such a durable human being. She will stand in front of you and take what you’ve got. Because she was getting picked apart in that first round. She keeps coming forward to land what she has to land or get you to the ground or do what she has to do to win. She did it again tonight. She has worked her way back to Ronda Rousey.
But nothing is ever set in stone until pen has been put to paper. As Tate was starting to ease into a long training camp, the UFC pulled the carpet out from under her with a huge announcement.
She would no longer be challenging Rousey for the bantamweight title. The opportunity had been given to Holm instead.
When speaking with the Los Angeles Times' Lance Pugmire, White claimed the decision came during a meeting, where it was agreed upon that Holm and Rousey was the “way more intriguing” option. Tate had already lost to Rousey twice in lopsided fashion, and a third fight wouldn’t be an easy sell.
White isn’t wrong in his assessment of the title picture, although it could be argued that Holm hasn’t been given enough time to fully develop. It would have been more satisfying in the long run to see her thrown into the fire against a top contender before standing across the cage from Rousey.
But the wiped-out bantamweight division leaves few options.
Correia, Rousey’s latest victim, was given a title shot after defeating opponents with a combined 1-7 UFC record. Every fighter at 135 pounds is a win away from a UFC title shot, which is mostly due to Rousey going through opponents like customers at a McDonald’s drive-thru.
Tate has every reason to be upset. She had been led to believe she would be fighting for the UFC title. While the fight was never made official, the MMA world assumed “Cupcake” would get a third opportunity because White said she would.
Speaking to MMAFighting.com, Tate said she was “extremely disappointed” in the UFC’s decision.
“I was told after my last win that I had earned the title shot. I’ve already begun training for Rousey and I was shocked to hear the announcement this morning," she said. "I regret this for not only myself, but my team, sponsors and the fans who like me believed my next fight was for the title.”
In previous press conferences, White has been reluctant to make fights immediately after events due to the possibility of him changing his mind. A picture always looks different when you step back and get a complete view.
While the situation could have been handled better, the UFC made the best decision from a promotional standpoint. Holm is by far the most intriguing contender left for Rousey at 135 pounds.
Tate, on the other hand, has to accept being a victim of circumstance. All she can really do is shake her head and move on.
