Holly Holm tog bältet ifrån den tidigare obesegrade mästarinnan Ronda Rousey i november förra året, efter en knockout via huvudspark i andra ronden. Nu kommer Holm för första gången försvara bältet mot Miesha Tate under UFC 196.
Tate erkänner dock att hon vill se returen mellan Holm och Rousey, för att se om resultatet skulle bli annorlunda.
Det här berättade Tate, via ”MMAFighting”:
I want to see it again to see if it was real, too. I’m 100 percent on that page. Definitely. But they just might have to accept the terms that it won’t be a title fight because I’m going to have the belt.
I was pretty surprised after the first round. I was curious to see what adjustments would be made in the second round and there was no adjustments made on Rousey’s side. They continued with the same gameplan and that led [Rousey] to her fate. Holly looked amazing. She proved that she’s one of the best strikers in the world but she’s yet to prove she’s one of the best MMA fighters in the world.
Holms tränare har tidigare berättat att Holm höll tillbaka när hon möte Raquel Pennington och Marion Renau. Tate har dock svårt att tro på detta.
I personally don’t [believe that]. I don’t believe any fighter goes into a fight saying, ’Oh, I’m just going to give 80 or 90 percent.’ I feel like you’ve got to go out there and give 100 percent for every fight and I don’t think Holly is the kind of champion that wouldn’t do that or the kind of fighter that wouldn’t do that. What I believe is that Ronda forced more out of her. [Holm] had to use more. Maybe the other girls didn’t pressure her in the same way and allowed her to do what she’s comfortable doing.
We saw Ronda really forcing that pace in a reckless way and Holly rose to the occasion. She shined. She looked great doing that. It just depends on the style matchup. Some fighters [Holm] is going to edge out in a split decision and look ’eh’ and other fighters it’ll be ’Wow! she looks amazing.’ It depends on the matchup.
Tate möter Holm under UFC 196 i Las Vegas den 5 mars.
