Miesha Tate Should Retire After Third Ronda Rousey Fight

Miesha Tate has finally achieved the pinnacle of her sport’s success.

After two demoralizing losses to Ronda Rousey, as well as a knockout loss to Cat Zingano, she finally started putting her game together and cleaning up the rest of the division.

Heading into Saturday’s (March 5) UFC 196 co-main event, she had won four consecutive bouts. An upset submission in the final round of her championship fight with Holly Holm made it five.

But Miesha Tate fans should not get carried away with her successes. The string of victories came on the heels of losing three out of four previous fights.

Rousey absolutely dominated her in their first bout near the end of the Strikeforce promotion. After much hype and promises that she would beat the new kid on the block, Rousey submitted Tate in less than one round.

When she met Zingano to determine a No. 1 Contender for Rousey’s newly awarded UFC Bantamweight Championship, she ate some knees and an elbow en route to a third round TKO loss.

An injury to Zingano unfairly gave Miesha Tate a second shot at Rousey before Cat could get her shot, and predictably, Rousey won again, this time taking her time with Tate and tossing her around the cage for a couple of rounds before finishing her early in the third.

Make no mistake. Miesha Tate was never and will never be competitive with Ronda Rousey. When Ronda does make her comeback, presumably in November, the current UFC Champion will be a heavy underdog against Rousey, as she should be.

She now finds herself in an opportunity that she was 40 seconds away from not having, since Holly Holm was clearly winning on the cards prior to Miesha slipping on the rear-naked choke.

https://youtu.be/-4nxmgY5QxI

That’s not an indictment of Tate; it’s just speaking to the facts.

She was losing that fight, and had Holm not gotten careless, fans — and the UFC pay-per-view buy rates — would be enjoying a highly anticipated rematch between Ronda and the woman who took her crown.

Instead, it will be Tate-Rousey III — a formality in getting the title back on Rousey’s waist.

Unfortunately for fight fans, Miesha Tate has no chance of winning her third fight against Rousey, and one needn’t look any further than her four straight wins prior to the victory over Holm to see it.

She started the ball rolling with a three-round unanimous decision over Liz Carmouche. Rousey finished her in one.

She then outlasted journeyman MMA fighter Rin Nakai in another unanimous decision.

Her next fight against Sara McMann — yet another first-round Ronda Rousey victim — ended in a majority decision.

Finally, there was the dull unanimous decision over 11-4 Jessica Eye.

Miesha Tate has done what she needs to do to get back to the top of the division, and her win against Holm was gutsy. At present, she is the most deserving woman in the division to hold the championship.

But she is also custom-made for Ronda Rousey.

As was said going into Tate-Holm, styles make fights. While Tate’s opportunistic, cerebral style against Holm was the ticket to a championship, it’s not the type of game plan she will utilize against Ronda.

She hates Rousey, and the feeling is mutual. So far, that has led her to fighting Rousey’s straight-forward style, and with the two previous losses, it is unlikely Miesha Tate will want to take a decision win.

She wants to beat Rousey definitively, but she doesn’t have the patience to do it her way, and ultimately, that will be her undoing for a third straight fight.

Since Tate was considering retirement after getting passed over for a rematch with Rousey anyway — a passover Holly Holm used to make history at UFC 193 with her Round 2 KO of Rousey — there is nothing left for Miesha Tate if she falls to her nemesis a third time.

https://youtu.be/wY9UOulfdP8

She would never be able to justify another fight with Rousey, and without the chance of another championship run, what point would there be in continuing?

Do you think Miesha Tate should retire after she loses to Ronda in their next bout? Sound off in the comments section.