I've received a lot of tweets about the situation on last week's episode where Ronda and Bryan (my boyfriend) were at that bar. The UFC surprised us all by saying all the teams and coaches were going to a suite at the Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas to watch the UFC on Pay-Per-View. We had an awesome suite set up for us with a bar and plenty of room, but as you saw it didn't take Ronda long to cause a scene.
Bryan was minding his own business at the bar, watching the fights, when I saw Ronda just on him, literally touching him with her chest, her shoulder, her legs, her hips, like she was about to give him a lap dance. Bryan was uncomfortably inching away, but Ronda would inch after him with her hips, making him even more uncomfortable.
I played it cool for a little while, but she was just all over him. You can't tell from the way it aired but this went on for over five minutes, not the 10 seconds you saw on the show. Eventually, I thought, even though she's looking to get a reaction, I have to do something here.
She was really making a point of messing with him and Bryan was – again – in a lose-lose situation where he couldn't do anything without looking like he was in the wrong. He couldn't put his hand on her and even gently push her away, because then he's putting his hands on a woman. He couldn't really say anything because she was obviously doing this to clown him and that would be playing right into her hands. So I decided to help him by going up there and telling Ronda she had no business being that close to my boyfriend.
Honestly, I could not fit my hand between Ronda and Bryan, she was that close. I wedged myself between them and said something like get away from my boyfriend and Ronda said only someone with half a brain would be interested in him anyway. I said, well I should definitely be worried then.
I don't think the camera guys really caught that exchange but once they saw what was happening they flew over there to capture what was going on. I can admit, I lost my temper at one point. I shouted something about how Ronda can't throw a punch. Of course she can throw a punch, she's the world champion, but I was just so pissed off by that point.
Ronda also said I needed to be with someone who treats me better and things like that and I remember thinking what a hypocrite she was.
Ronda, correct me if I am wrong, did a ton of interviews saying that she was worried that six weeks of filming 'TUF' was not enough time for viewers to get an accurate sense of her personality. Well, apart from a few minutes here and there on press tours, Ronda has never been around Bryan and I and is in no position to comment on the dynamic of our relationship.
Ronda and I are arch-rivals and I get smack-talking is what the fans and media expect and, like I said in my first Yahoo blog, I've made peace with aspects of what Ronda is to me and my career. But I've never heard of other fighters being so interested in the love lives of their opponents. I never heard Muhammad Ali go on and on about how Joe Frazier needed a better girlfriend or anything like that.
I don't understand why she's so fascinated by my relationship with Bryan. I can't think why she keeps saying such ridiculous things. Sometimes I think she's jealous. From what I understand, she's been single a while and doesn't have the support system I have from Bryan and maybe there's jealousy there. I think we have a bond and a type of relationship that maybe she wishes she had.
But I also know how Ronda likes to try to take your strengths away from you, and Bryan's support both professionally and personally is a major strength for me. It is typical Ronda to try to attack your strengths and maybe that's her motivation for talking about my relationship all the time.
I guess I should also address, once more, the whole origin of the beef with Bryan, Ronda and myself. Both Bryan and myself get tweeted at by what we call the Ronda-bots -- Ronda's fans who try to act just like she does, all the time. You literally can’t press “block” fast enough. On the eve of my first fight with Ronda, Bryan was getting bombarded by her fans and, in pissed-off mood, responded to a fan that asked what would happen if he and Ronda fought. He shouldn't have done that -- he knew it right away and deleted the tweet -- but in his defense, it was the night before a huge fight for me. It was a very emotional time and Bryan responded very emotionally.
But, to anyone reading this, think about the last time you misspoke or lashed out in anger or said something or texted something you immediately regretted. I bet for most of you it wasn't as long ago as March 2012. It sure isn't for me. But Bryan is still getting hammered over that one tweet from 18 months ago that he's apologized for again and again and again. Ronda and her fans can't seem to get over it, even though Ronda made a mistake herself and tweeted some link to a Sandy Hook conspiracy theory video. Once again, she's allowed to make mistakes and other people aren't.
What the cameras didn't show from that whole incident at the bar was even after the big argument, Ronda came up to the bar and slammed her glass down so hard she broke it. I don't think she intended to break the glass, but she was so mad it broke and she threw it down on the floor behind the bar. And this area behind the bar was tiny, the bartender, this young lady, had nowhere to go when this glass shattered around her feet. And Ronda didn't even apologize - she said "Give me my drink." I can't believe what a brat Ronda is. I can't wait to punch her in the face come December 28.
As for the fight on last week's episode, we were very confident that Chris Holdworth would beat Chris Beal, which is why we selected that fight. Our Chris had a style we believed would pose Beal a lot of problems and we knew that Beal was carrying an injury from his elimination fight. Ronda tried to make out that selecting someone with an injury was somehow wrong, but that's how you play the game. We thought Chris would be too good for Beal on the night, and we wanted to eliminate Ronda's No.1 male pick just like we eliminated her No.1 female pick the week before.
From the show, I can see that Ronda is mainly trying to instill a cocky arrogance in her fighters, rather than improving their skills. That attitude really works for Ronda, but she's got unique skills as well. I don't think the attitude works without the skills and she's not working on skills from what I can see from the show.
The fight itself went how we expected, with a great win for our Chris, who won on the feet and finished on the ground. I felt really bad for Chris Beal though, overcoming cancer and everything. I hope he gets another chance in the UFC.
At the end of the episode, we were up 2-0 and feeling everything was going our way.
If there’s anything you’d like me to cover in next week’s column, hit me up on twitter at @MieshaTate.
The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rousey vs Team Tate continues Wednesday’s 7/10pm on Fox Sports 1.
