Part of the reason women’s mixed martial arts was put on the map and soared to new levels of popularity is because of the work the likes of Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate were doing.

While you could throw some other names in there, it’s the bitter rivalry between Rousey and Cupcake which drew plenty of interest from the fans, as it was something that hadn’t been seen before – certainly from the female athletes.

RIVALRY

Their legendary feud saw them meet inside of the cage on two occasions; the first taking place in Strikeforce back in 2012 where Tate lost the bantamweight championship in the first round.

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Her attempt at revenge didn’t go down too well either, as their second clash saw them meet inside of the UFC Octagon the following year and Rousey only needed 58 seconds to retain her crown.

Since then, the division has moved on with Tate retiring after losing back to back fights to Amanda Nunes and Raquel Pennington, while her rival mirrored that with two losses of her own to Holly Holm and The Lioness.

Nobody knows what the future holds for her and for years, fans have been calling for a trilogy fight as it seems like the natural conclusion.

Speaking to MMA Junkie, Tate lifted the lid on her feud with Rousey and claimed she’s okay with having her name tied with Rousey for so long; admitting she was blessed to be in that position.

Tate said: “In hindsight, I definitely feel like it was a good thing.

“I feel like I was blessed to have a rival like Ronda Rousey. Because, without the two of us, there wasn’t enough.

“She wasn’t enough by herself, and I wasn’t enough, definitely, by myself.

“It was the two of us together, our fight in Strikeforce, that made [UFC president] Dana White and [former UFC CEO] Lorenzo Fertitta say, ‘Wow, OK, maybe the UFC can have a women’s division, because these two were so competitive.’”

TRILOGY

Fans that are hopeful of a trilogy are in for some sad news, as Tate claims she has no desire to return and doubts Rousey wants the same, even if she did campaign for it when she was an active fighter.

She added: “That was the fight that I was hopefully working toward, and it didn’t come to fruition again. But it almost did.

“When Holly Holm fought Ronda Rousey, that was actually supposed to be my fight. I was preparing for that, and it didn’t work out for me, but it did for Holly. And obviously, all of that unfolded, and I beat Holly, and it is what it is. But I was ready and prepared in my mind that a third fight with Ronda Rousey was going to happen.

“So it’s kind of always something that just stuck with me, that it was meant to happen. At this point, I highly doubt that can ever come to fruition. I know that she’s engaged to Travis [Browne], and she probably wants to start a family. Who knows if she wants to return? And I certainly have no desire to want to return.”

Would you like to see Miesha Tate fight Ronda Rousey one more time? Have YOUR say in the comments section below.

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