Miesha Tate continues her trek back toward the women's bantamweight title and Ronda Rousey when she takes on rising contender Jessica "Evil" Eye at UFC on Fox 16 this Saturday.
Tate is the highest-ranked women's bantamweight currently on a winning streak, but she has already come up short against Rousey in their two previous bouts. Will she be able to get past Eye and earn the opportunity to stand across the cage from Rousey a third time?
Trilogy fights are uncommon when one fighter has lost the first two bouts, but they aren't unheard of. Relative to her contemporaries, Tate has fared a whole lot better against Rousey. She remains the only person Rousey has fought to make it out of the first round.
In their rematch back at UFC 168 in December 2013, Tate defended several Rousey armbar attempts and lasted until the third frame before succumbing to the champion's finisher. It was thought that her second chance to dethrone Rousey would be her last. But in a division that Rousey is wreaking absolute havoc upon, Tate's current resume puts her back near the top of the heap.
A win over Eye would be Tate's fourth straight victory since that loss to Rousey. She won three hard-fought decisions over Liz Carmouche, Rin Nakai and Sara McMann.
To notch that fourth straight win, she'll have to get past an extremely motivated and dangerous fighter in Eye. The evil was on full display in Eye's last fight, when she pieced up Leslie Smith so badly that her ear was nearly punched off.
She didn't hesitate to zero in on the damaged ear of Smith, and she used the opportunity to secure a second-round TKO win after the cageside doctor had seen enough.
If Eye can keep things standing, and use her speed and reflexes to pick Tate apart on the feet, the fight is hers. Conversely, if Tate can close the distance and get the fight to the ground, she can grind out a decision. She needs to avoid getting drawn into a firefight and time her opponent’s attacks to counter effectively.
Eye will be a stiff test for the former Strikeforce champion, but if she leaves Chicago victorious, she should be next in line for Rousey. Eye has yet to face the champ, so if she gets past Tate, she would be a fresh matchup for Rousey coming off a very high-profile win.
A title challenger often has to take the scenic route back to contention after losing to the champion. Tate has done that. She's fought other challengers who have lost to Rousey in Carmouche and McMann, and she took on a UFC newcomer on foreign soil against Nakai.
Aside from a meritorious standpoint, the Rousey vs. Tate matchup sells itself. The fact that Tate lost to Rousey is secondary to the narrative that she has taken the champion into (relatively) deep waters. Up until Bethe Correia's extremely poor choice of words about Rousey, Tate had been the only fighter to really draw emotion out of Rousey.
The venom flows so naturally from Rousey when it comes to her thoughts on Tate—and her boyfriend Bryan Caraway for that matter. The two are like oil and water, and in the fight business, that mix equals dollar signs.
Tate has nearly worked her way back to another UFC title shot and a chance to redeem herself against the biggest adversary of her career. Although Eye is a dangerous striker and capable finisher, Tate has the tools and the veteran poise to earn the victory and square up one more time with the Rowdy one.
