I have to admit it: I was wrong. I really thought that world champion Miesha Tate was going to edge challenger Ronda Rousey in a 4 out of 5 round fight that would see her keeping Ronda away with superior striking and wrestling. But if you saw the fight on Saturday, you’ll see that Ronda, in her fifth fight of her MMA career nearly ripped the champ’s arm off to win her first MMA world championship.
Ronda is a bronze Olympic medalist in Judo, which clearly speaks for itself. Miesha, the defending champ, also has an impressive resume, and you know, the champ. After all the big talk (Ronda said that she could beat Miesha AND her boyfriend), the hyperbole and press conferences we got an explosive round of fighting. The ladies started off fast and furious and within a minute, the champ, Miesha found herself in danger of having her arm ripped off. She worked and fought, and finally found her way out of the armbar. A minute later, we saw Ronda giving up her back to Miesha but again, it was short lived. After some striking, and a mad ground scramble that started with a ridiculously awesome judo toss by Ronda, Ronda wickedly yanked back on Miesha’s arm and while Miesha gamely fought on, she had to tap out. Reports are that the X-rays came back negative. No broken bones, thankfully. No word on Miesha’s ego.
I have to admit that I was hoping for more from Ronda’s post-fight victory speech. She mildly praised Miesha, but when asked point-blank if the ‘beef’ was squashed between them, she went on about how Miesha’s call for her to get fined for their press conference scuffle. Meh. Ronda won and took Miesha’s title. There is no beef, amiright?
That’s not to say that Miesha won’t be back to fight another day. She certainly will but the posturing has paid off for Ronda in a serious way as the new champ and now the face of woman’s MMA. Not bad for someone who talked their way into a championship fight. Next up for Ronda will be Sarah Kaufman and while it probably won’t be as big as this fight, it should stick in the mind of casual and diehard MMA fans alike and really that’s great news for everybody.
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