Miesha Tate on ex-UFC champ Ronda Rousey: If serious about MMA, 'she would've been back sooner'

Like most of the MMA world, recently retired ex-UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate was perplexed by Ronda Rousey’s media blackout in advance of her long-awaited comeback opposite current champ Amanda Nunes tonight at UFC 207.

“It makes you wonder where her head is at,” Tate said in an interview with FS1’s “Undisputed.” “Is she laser-focused, or is she struggling?”

Rousey’s choice to avoid the press certainly indicated the latter for Tate, a two-time “Rowdy” opponent who twice loss via armbar.

“Maybe she doesn’t want to do this,” Tate said. “Because she said I’ll do this under one condition – my way. I feel like maybe she doesn’t want to be here doing this right now.”

Rousey (12-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC), who’s No. 2 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA women’s bantamweight rankings, headlines tonight’s pay-per-view event opposite No. 1-ranked Nunes (13-4 MMA, 6-1 UFC) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Not so long ago, Tate had her own moment of realization that she didn’t want to fight – only it happened in the middle of one. She faced Nunes in July at UFC 200 in the first attempted defense of the bantamweight title she won from Holly Holm, who famously upset Rousey in November 2015. Nunes bludgeoned her with a punch, breaking a nose that had been broken other times during her long MMA career. With that, her priorities shifted.

Tate thinks the fact that Rousey disappeared after her upset means her motivation for coming back isn’t based on her own desire.

“If she really wanted to continue fighting, she would’ve been back there sooner,” Tate said. “Her taking a year and some change off, I think she wants to do other things. I don’t think she really wants to be in there fighting anymore, but I think she’s doing it sort of as a favor to the UFC.”

In the limited interviews she’s done, Rousey has suggested the opposite, saying her comeback was about her and her alone, and her choice to avoid additional scrutiny was to help her focus on the task ahead.

The world will soon see whether she’s able to return to the form that allowed her to dominate the UFC women’s bantamweight division for two years and earn six lopsided title defenses.

Tate isn’t exactly an unbiased source, but she’s picking Nunes. She expects the ex-champ to be “punch-shy” and push for a grappling match, where she would have the decided advantage. She doesn’t rule out the possibility of that happening, but she’s not optimistic Rousey can get it together before taking a fight-altering shot.

“I have never been hit that hard in my life, so (Nunes) packs one heck of a punch, and I’ll tell you one thing: It’s only going to take one of those to land clean, and it’s going to ring Ronda’s bell,” Tate said.

For more on UFC 207, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.