Despite planned trilogy, new champ Miesha Tate unsure Ronda Rousey will come back

Miesha Tate has been in the cage with Ronda Rousey twice before, coached “The Ultimate Fighter” opposite her, and tussled back and forth in the media with her.

Yet Tate admits she doesn’t know Rousey (10-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) all that well. That’s why she’s a little cautious when she says she’s not certain the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion is properly motivated to return to the cage in an attempt to get her title back – a title now held by Tate (18-5 MMA, 5-2 UFC) after her submission of Holly Holm (10-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) this past Saturday at UFC 196.

Today on “The Jim Rome Show,” Tate told the host she could even see a scenario in which Rousey never fights again.

“Possibly, (she might not return),” Tate said on the show. “I wouldn’t put it past the situation, just from my observance. But I could be wrong. I don’t know Ronda on a personal level that well, so I may be wrong. But if she is the woman that I step into the cage with next, or at any point, I’ll be ready. I know that about myself because I’ve been forged by this sport time and time again. Mentally, I know I have it.”

And mentally is the area Tate seems to be taking Rousey to task now a couple times since she beat Holm to become the champion at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. On Monday on “TMZ Sports,” she alluded to Rousey being too concerned with having kids with her boyfriend, UFC heavyweight Travis Browne – something she told Ellen DeGeneres in February was going through her mind to help stop a fleeting thought of suicide in the moments following her knockout loss to Holly Holm at UFC 193.

And she brought that up again today with Rome.

“I’ve been fighting for 10 years,” Tate said. “There are things I can recognize in other athletes. I can recognize greatness – Ronda has greatness. Holly has greatness. I feel like those are things that are similar that we have. What I don’t recognize in Ronda is the will to build herself back up from this breaking point. She hit such a low, and I have not heard her say the things that I would want to hear someone say if they really wanted to come back from something like that.

“I’ve been hearing her say more things like the reason for her sticking around is because she’s in love with Travis (Browne) and she wants to have his babies. That is not something I want to hear – unbiasedly, if I want this woman to come back and be a champion again, what I’m looking to hear is, ‘I’m going to come back better, I’m going to come back stronger, I will be the champion.’ I haven’t heard her say those things, and it really makes me wonder where her mind is at.”

Rousey’s success outside the UFC has included the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and a hosting gig on “Saturday Night Live” – both after she lost, proving she wasn’t infallible. Before that, she appeared in major movies like “Entourage” and “Furious 7,” and is slated to appear in even more in the near future. She even optioned her autobiography for a movie that will star her.

So almost without question, Rousey has elevated herself to the level of global crossover star to the point she could keep working, even without fighting. It’s the loss to Holm that Tate wonders about – did it break the former champ because she had set a goal of retiring undefeated?

“Is she already off doing movies and ready to have babies and ready to become a mom? Is she ready to walk away from the sport? Has she already done what she’s set out to do?,” Tate wondered. “She’s defeated now. Her whole mantra, her whole career, was based off being undefeated. Now that that hasn’t gone her way, and also I beat Holly – which was another thing that didn’t go her way – it seems like this is a mental downward spiral for her. I just haven’t heard the things that would make me think she’s going to come back better for it. It makes me question it.”

Rousey has two wins over Tate, both by armbar. They last fought in December 2013 at UFC 168, and at the time Tate was the first person to take Rousey out of the first round, eventually succumbing to her in the third.

A Holm win over Tate would have set up Rousey for a rematch with her for the title. But with Tate’s upset, the same holds true. Rousey is next in line, UFC President Dana White said after the fight, and that means Rousey vs. Tate for a third time – provided Tate’s assessment doesn’t prove to be right.

But Tate said she has no idea when that fight will take place, and that even without Rousey, there are still other options for her first title defense.

“I haven’t talked to my management yet,” Tate said. “Everyone around me, all my friends and family, are telling me, ‘Just enjoy the moment. Let’s not rush things. Don’t look ahead – whoever’s next will be next. They’ll be waiting for you.’ I have a huge target on my back now. There’s been a lot of girls calling me out. Amanda Nunes has been calling me out, Cat Zingano has been calling me out, Holly’s been calling me out. Ronda obviously thinks she wants that fight.

“So there’s a lot of tough competition, stiff competition that could come up at any moment. My job is to stay ready as the champion. I’m doing that, and I’m committed to doing that, and whatever comes next will come next and I will be ready for it.”

For complete coverage of UFC 196, check out the UFC Events section of the site.