Miesha Tate on ‘TUF 18' and Ronda Rousey: I’m no longer misunderstood

As the 18th season of “The Ultimate Fighter” wraps up tonight, UFC women’s bantamweight contender and “TUF 18? head coach Miesha Tate is already assured the show has served a great purpose.

For Tate (13-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC), who coached opposite rival Ronda Rousey (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) on the FOX Sports 1-televised series, it was an opportunity for fight fans to get to know her. During a long-brewing feud with Rousey, whom she meets Dec. 28 in UFC 168's pay-per-view co-headliner, that wasn’t always the case.

“It feels kind of nice, finally,” Tate told MMAjunkie. “For a long time, I felt very misunderstood. I felt like a lot of people really thought they could hear what Ronda was saying, but I never got any coverage. It was all the Ronda show, and it was like she was the one on the covers of everything and getting all this press. Everyone was really only hearing her side of the story.

“It was kind of nice to be able to shed some light on the truth, and people could really see how we interact and the reason why it’s impossible to get along with her or like her.”

Tate’s team went 5-3 in the quarterfinal round of “TUF 18,” which featured eight-man and eight-woman tournaments. Both coaches, though, has finalists in the tourney finals. Still, for Tate, whose weekly TV appearances clearly swayed some public opinion (she recently defeated Rousey in fan voting for the “EA Sports UFC” video-game cover), she was the clear winner on “TUF 18.”

Check out the video above as Tate discusses the first female season of “TUF,” why she’s gotten over her first Rousey loss, and how she’s preparing for next month’s mega UFC 168 event.

For more on the TUF 18 Finale and UFC 168, visit the UFC Rumors section of the site.