Did Meisha Tate Turn Down Ronda Rousey at UFC 157? Armbar Victim #5 Says No & Adds More Thoughts On WMMA

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Much was made about Ronda Rousey vs. Liz Carmouche being a battle made because plenty of people turned down the right to face the former Strikeforce now UFC women’s bantamweight champion.  Meisha Tate went on “The MMA Hour” this afternoon with Ariel Helwani to dispel that notion. From the show itself:

“I was never presented with that. I had made it clear that I wanted to take some time off after my last win over Julie Kedzie, but that doesn’t mean you don’t make an exception to the rule when something like that is presented. Clearly when I made those statements, that was before women were coming to the UFC for sure. That was before it be would an opportunity to headline. That was before it would an opportunity to make history.

“If they would have said, ‘Hey, you want to fight Ronda in the UFC? You want to headline a UFC card for the first fight in history for women?’ I would have been like, hell yeah. But it wasn’t offered to me.”

She also had some interesting words to say in regards to Dana White declaring women in the Octagon as “The Ronda Rousey Show.”

“I think they’re putting a little too many eggs in one basket. I mean, What happens if [Rousey] goes out there and she does lose to Liz for some reason?

“Then it’s kind of like, all of this that they’ve put into it is all nothing. I feel like it’s not maybe the smartest thing to just base everything solely off of Ronda, when clearly there’s more talent and I’m also right here too. I really feel like I was a big part of making history. If I’d just tapped out when Ronda got me in the armbar, it wouldn’t have been such an explosive thing. I feel like the reason she’s up for submission of the year is because of my stubbornness.”