Miesha Tate wants to be an active champion, but it did not sound like the UFC was ready to let her do that since they wanted the crown jewel back in the champion and beating Tate is arguably the easiest path for Rousey since she has done it before. Whether she is actually filming a movie or not is not the question but she is not ready to come back. Plus, with eh resounding thud that landed at UFC 200’s door with the announcement of the Diaz and mcGregor rematch while Edgar and Aldo fight for an interim title, the promotion needed to do something to make this fight card an actual super card since they did not have one legit title fight on it.
Now, they do since they have unleashed Tate to continue new fighting a whose who in her division with her first defense coming agains the ultra tough and dynamic Amanda Nunes. Nunes had come into the UFC on a bad spell of 1-2 in her last three fights but made an immediate impact with two first round TKOs. Those wins lead to her first number one contenders match where she nearly finish Cat Zingano but lost after gassing out. That loss spurred her current three fight win streak where she has finished the likes of former title challenger Sara McMann and Shayna Baszler. Now she has a chance to bring a belt back to Brazil when she faces Tate.
Tate had a real issue of turning into Michael Bisping or Kenny Florian, essentially one of the best fighters of their division that never captured the gold yet beat everyone else. Her record currently sits at 18-5 with two losses to Rouse, a come from behind loss to the aforementioned Zingano, and some losses from nearly seven years ago. Still, a strong four fight win streak over the likes of Liz Cartouche, Sara McMann, Jessica Eye and Rin Nakai but her back into contention. The problems as that Rouse still had the belt but all that changed when Holly holm head kicked her into near retirement. Then those tow face doff and Tate looked not he precipice of defeat, but she was relentless and secured the submission win in the fifth round. Now, she has a chance to become only the second UFC Bantamweight champion to actually defend her belt.