There's been many a fighter who felt a certain opponent didn't deserve a title shot based on their lack of accomplishments.
Some, like Chael Sonnen, have received title fights just by simply asking for them, much like he did when he stepped up to the plate to take on UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones at UFC 159.
"The American Gangster" got the title fight after losing to former Middleweight king Anderson Silva in his previous fight, which left many fight fans scratching their head wondering why Sonnen would even be mentioned as a potential title challenger in a whole new weight class, much less get it.
In the case of Miesha Tate's title shot against Ronda Rousey -- which is set to pop off at UFC 168 on Dec. 28, 2013, in Las Vegas, Nevada -- "Rowdy" knows exactly why "Cupcake" received the nod over the rest of the women's' 135-pound field after Cat Zingano -- Rousey's original foe -- was forced out with an injury.
Simply put, the very real and very bitter rivalry the two women share was more than enough to convince UFC matchmakers to give Tate the title fight against the Judoka. And, of course, Tate' "nice ass" didn't hurt her case, either, according to the champ.
Because according to Rousey, it certainly wasn't based off Tate's athletic merit or past performances as she recently told Jim Rome:
"She really has to nitpick to try and find weaknesses in my game. I mean, she has to tell herself something. If you think about it, her best performance ever was against Marloes Coenen to win the Strikeforce belt. Then I beat her very decisively and then she had an embarrassing and bad performance against Julie Kedzie where she got dropped and head kicked. She got dropped a couple of times. She was pretty much embarrassing and bad to the very end. And then in her UFC debut she lost and got dropped by an elbow by Cat Zingano. She was getting beat pretty badly. Then Cat Zignano hurt her knee. Miesha has a nice ass and she has an ongoing rivalry with me and that's the only reason she was picked for this fight. The rivalry is why she is even around. It's not because of her athletic merit. She really has to play that part of it up (rivalry) because that's all she really has. She has to make it personal because you can't make it an athletic rivaly because there really is no comparison. I'm an Olympic athlete and she's a high school wrestler."
Zingano defeated Tate at The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale earlier this year, earning her a spot as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 18 opposite Rousey with an eventual championship match against the 135-pound queen to come after.
But, when "Alpha" blew out her knee, UFC officials were forced to scramble for a last-minute replacement as taping of the reality television show on FOX Sports 1 was just around the corner.
In sauntered Tate, and the rest as they say, is in the rear-end rear-view mirror.