Now as the bantamweight champ, Tate will likely defend her title against Ronda Rousey, who is expected to make her return to UFC as early as July for UFC 200. So Tate’s starting the trash talk early.
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“I don’t even know what [Ronda] is thinking right now … it seems like her motivation to stick around was to have Travis Browne’s baby. So, I don’t know,” Tate told TMZ Sports on Monday. “That doesn’t sound like a motivated comeback, in my opinion.”
Tate is referencing Rousey’s interview with Ellen DeGeneres last month when she said she had suicidal thoughts following her loss to Holm. Rousey followed that bombshell with, “to be honest, I looked up and I saw my man Travis (Browne) was standing up there and I looked up at him and I was like, ‘I need to have his babies. I need to stay alive.’ Really that was it.”
Considering those words actually left Rousey’s mouth, it’s hard to be too appalled by Tate’s comments, but it’s still bold for her to make light of Rousey’s plight following her UFC 193 loss, especially since Rousey has already beaten Tate twice.
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But now that she holds the belt, Tate said she has “unlimited energy” and another showdown with Rousey is something for which she’s been “prepared and ready” for “a long time.”
