Miesha Tate angry that Kim Winslow might be refereeing on 'TUF 18'

Miesha Tate surprised women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey when she showed up on “The Ultimate Fighter 18? set.

But the ex-Strikeforce champ and current UFC contender got a surprise of her own – an unwelcome one – when she heard the referee of her previous bout, Kim Winslow, may be overseeing fights on the reality show.

“I think she sucks as a referee,” Tate told told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “I heard she’s going to be refereeing this season, and I think that sucks, too.”

Tate gave the interview during her second day of shooting in Las Vegas, and made it clear that her recent loss to Cat Zingano was still a sore subject.

Zingano (8-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) battered Tate (13-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC) with a flurry of knees and elbows in a fight at The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale, prompting referee Winslow to stop the bout in the third round. The TKO win earned the undefeated Zingano a coaching spot on “TUF 18? and a title shot against Rousey in late December.

Two weeks ago, however, Zingano blew her knee out in training, and Tate took her spot.

After the bout, which earned “Fight of the Night” honors, Tate complained about the stoppage and said she wasn’t in danger of being finished. She also posted a picture of the fight captured by a fan that indicated one of Zingano’s knees was illegal. Real-time clips of the stoppage, however, showed Zingano’s strikes were on point.

Asked whether the bout ended prematurely, UFC President Dana White said “it was time to stop that fight” and said he had no issues with Winslow’s call.

Tate, who lost her Strikeforce title to Rousey more than a year ago, nonetheless felt robbed of a golden opportunity.

“[Zingano] caught me with probably two solid knees, rocked the elbows, and I tried to go in for a shot,” she said. “It wasn’t the best shot in the world. But I had won the first two rounds pretty decisively. So I didn’t feel I was on this downhill [slope] this whole time. I was just having a slow third round.”

Responding to Tate’s criticism via email, Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Keith Kizer said any NSAC-approved referee could be called to officiate at “TUF 18,” and added, “people sometimes need to complain when they lose. No offense taken by me or Kim.”

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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