Your move, Miesha.
UFC president Dana White told Submission Radio Australia on Friday in Melbourne that if Miesha Tate is contemplating retirement, it might not be a bad idea for the women's bantamweight star to hang up the gloves.
"Miesha Tate is talking about retiring right now," White said a day before UFC 193 in Melbourne. "In this sport, when you start thinking about retiring, you should retire. Miesha probably should retire if that's what Miesha is thinking right now. It's probably a good idea."
White told Tate she would get a title shot against Ronda Rousey if she beat Jessica Eye at UFC on FOX 16 in July. Tate beat Eye, but a few weeks later Rousey went on Good Morning America and announced she'd be fighting Holly Holm. Holm ended up beating Rousey on Saturday night in stunning fashion via second-round head kick knockout.
Tate, who has lost to Rousey twice, was devastated she didn't the Rousey rematch. She has not gotten over it yet, either. Earlier this month, she told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour that she might retire if the UFC didn't change its ways.
"I understand they have a job to do. They want to promote, they want to make fights that sell. I get it," Tate said. "But this is also my life and I'm not a robot and I'm not a puppet, and I'm not going to stand for something that I don't feel right about, that I don't agree with.
"The whole reason I do this sport is because I love it, and when the politics get in the way and they start messing s**t up -- excuse my language -- I'm just not going to stand for it. It's not why I got into fighting. It's not why I do what I do. And I'm not going to go out there and put on a crap performance in front of all my fans because I didn't feel right about it."
Rousey said Thursday at UFC 193 media day that Tate's best bet is to wait until she retires and maybe fight someone like Holm for the belt. Ironically, Holm is now the champion.
"She's already gotten more chances than anybody else," Rousey said. "What are you bitching about? You already got your ass beat twice."
Tate, a popular, marketable fighter for the UFC, has won four straight since falling to Rousey at UFC 168 in December 2013. She lasted until the third round with the champion -- the only woman to advance past the first with the dominant champ.
On Friday, White said many of the fighters in the UFC want to be champion until they realize everything that entails.
"These women, they think they want that title," he said. "But they have no idea what it takes to really have that title and what it means to be the champion and how hard it is to carry it.
"The obligations are hard and very few people could really do it."
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