August 18, 2012; San Diego, CA, USA; Miesha Tate (white shorts) fights Julie Kedzie (black shorts) in their Strikeforce MMA Women's Bantamweight Bout at the Valley View Casino Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE
But why?
If Strikeforce gave out post-event awards like its sister organization, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), does, then the back-and-forth war of attrition between Miesha Tate vs. Julie Kedzie at last night's (Sat., Aug. 18, 2012) "Rousey vs. Kaufman" event in San Diego undoubtedly would have been awarded "Fight of the Night."
Click here to watch full highlights if you don't believe me.
But while that's normally something to hang your hat on, Tate isn't thrilled about it. Sure, it's nice to entertain fans but it came at a hefty price she never wanted to have to pay.
After all, when all was said and done, her face was so beat up she didn't even want it shown on camera, to the point of covering it with her hair at the post-fight press conference.
Taking it one step further, this wasn't the kind of performance Tate believes was good enough to earn her a rematch against Ronda Rousey.
"I'm not going to ask for that at that point because I don't feel that I deserve it. I think that I need to take a couple fights and I need a better performance than that. I think the fans deserve something better, and I know that I can deliver better than that. ... At this point, I don't feel that my performance, I mean everyone is saying it was ‘Fight of the Night' and everything and that's great and I'm really happy it was an entertaining bout. But I personally am not happy with my performance. I definitely don't think it was a contention worthy performance."
That's admirable and true to her sporting perspective on the MMA game but options are limited.
Rousey collected another arm last night, destroying Sarah Kaufman in just 54 seconds, the second longest professional fight she's been a part of. The first?
And with Cris 'Cyborg' seemingly unable to make 135-pounds and Rousey unwilling to fight her at any other weight, there are very few options for Strikeforce as far as booking a marketable fight for its superstar women's champion.
Whether Tate believes she deserves it or not, she could be next. You Maniacs okay with that?
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