Just before UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw has his long-awaited rematch with Renan Barao in the main event of UFC on Fox 16 in Chicago on Saturday, an important women's bantamweight scrap will take place.
No. 2 contender Miesha "Cupcake" Tate will take on No. 5-ranked Jessica "Evil" Eye in a bout that could determine who gets the next shot at the women's 135-pound title. Per Odds Shark, Tate is a 1-2 favorite to win.
Ronda Rousey currently owns the strap. The champion will defend the belt on Saturday, Aug. 1, in Brazil against Bethe Correia. Assuming Rousey wins—which is what most are doing—the winner of the Eye vs. Tate bout could face Rousey later this year or early in 2016.
Many might cringe at the thought of a third fight between Rousey and Tate, but it's hard to argue that the latter won't have earned it with a victory over Eye. Tate has won three straight since losing to Rousey at UFC 168, defeating Liz Carmouche, Rin Nakai and Sara McMann.
A win over Eye would be the latest feather in Tate's proverbial cap. The fight with Eye was apparently almost agreed upon for June 6 but was instead made for the Chicago card. Eye took the opportunity to post this video on her Facebook page, calling Tate out:
Posted by Jessica Eye on Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Tate disputes the concept that she was stalling and seemed to take umbrage with Eye's trash talk. Per Steven Muehlhausen of FanSided, Tate had this response:
I just thought it made Jessica look dumb because everybody knows that we didn't have a fight contract for a date that was never set for the June 6 card. ... The fact is it was never set in stone and we never received contracts. It was a ploy for her to try to get her fans to think for some reason that I was stalling or delaying to fight her. When we actually got our fight contracts for this date, I signed mine right away and tried to spin it back in her face and be like now where's your contract now that we have a real contract?
Tate is a veteran who has been in the cage with Rousey on two occasions and has battled No. 1 contender Cat Zingano once. It seems silly to think she'd be scared to face Eye. Tate continued:
When I hear her talking trash, there's no real reason she can have any personal dislike for me because we've always been nice to each other before. We were slated to fight each other. Now suddenly, it's like she's turned over this new leaf. She's trying to be tough. I think it's really because she's nervous. A lot of people feel like all of a sudden they have to talk a big game, say all these things and try to convince people why they are going to win this fight.
If nothing else, the war of words has helped to add some intrigue to this fight. Unfortunately for Eye, this fight probably won't go her way. The first minute of it will be key in determining the winner. Eye is almost always super aggressive as she attempts to put a hurting on her opponents with strikes early in the fight.
You can bet Tate will be ready for the onslaught. She's proved in previous fights that she has the toughness to weather the storm. Eye certainly has a huge advantage in striking, but the edge in grappling is just as big for Tate. If she can get this fight to the ground, Eye will be in purgatory off her back.
Much of what Eye does is based on aggression and emotion. Those are hard sources to draw from when someone is taking you down.
Eye had a difficult childhood, and by her own admission, it has fueled her fighting career. She discusses the physical abuse she endured from her father in an interview with Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole. Her resilience and ability to survive those circumstances make it easy to root for her to succeed, but she's technically outclassed in this matchup.
Tate's grappling and submission games are miles ahead. In four fights tracked by FightMetric, Eye has a takedown defense rate of 33 percent. And she hasn't faced a grappler or submissions artist on Tate's level.
Nathan McCarter of Bleacher Report likes Eye to win by unanimous decision, and his reasoning is solid. He says: "This fight is going to go 15 minutes. Here's the bottom line: If Eye can stop the takedowns, she will win."
Only she won't stop Tate's takedowns, and thus Eye won't win. Tate knows she can't strike with Eye, and she won't try. She'll do just enough to close the distance and then use Eye's aggression against her to take the fight to the mat.
From there, it'll be only a matter of time before Tate secures the submission win. How about an armbar finish to help add a little personality to Tate's next challenge to Rousey's crown?
Barring something strange happening in Brazil the following week, Rousey vs. Tate III is coming.
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