Miesha Tate is in the Philippines to attend the upcoming UFC: Manila card this weekend. On Thursday afternoon, the former Strikeforce champion spoke to the assembled media about various topics, such as Ronda Rousey being credited as the world’s most dominant athlete by Sports Illustrated, Jon Jones’ suspension and the main event bout between Frankie Edgar and Urijah Faber.
Miesha Tate doesn’t agree with Ronda Rousey’s ‘World’s Most Dominant Athlete’ tag, talks Jon Jones’ suspension
Miesha Tate spoke about various topics, including Ronda Rousey being credited by Sports Illustrated as the most dominant athlete.
Here’s what the women’s bantamweight contender said when asked about the following topics.
On the Philippines:
I’m really surprised at how everyone speaks English, even in the poorer areas who may not be used to catering to people who only speak English. Everyone has really been friendly, that’s probably the biggest thing. Everyone is so nice and I haven’t ran in to anyone who didn’t have a smile in their face the whole time. It’s a very warm country and it’s very welcoming. The food is great, and they say you guys have the best mangoes, and that’s so true! It’s the best mangoes ever! Every morning I have mangoes every time.
On Ronda Rousey's "World's Most Dominant Athlete" label from Sports Illustrated:
I don’t know if that’s an accurate statement. I think there are a lot of athletes in the world. Maybe someone who took a gold medal at the Olympics could be considered more “dominant,” you know?
In different sports, it’s hard to compare because we have a fighting sport, versus someone who maybe does swimming or something. An athlete is still an athlete so it’s hard to compare the apples and the oranges because they’re different things, so I don’t know if I agree entirely on that.
On Manny Pacquiao fighting through injuries, and other athletes doing the same thing:
It just depends on how severe the injury is. There are all different kinds of injuries and no fighter comes in at 100 percent. We all have things that are wrong with us, with things that are ailing before the fight. You just have to calculate how much you think that will affect your performance in the ring. Can it prohibit you from hitting? Then that’s a serious question and maybe you should consider not taking the fight.
But I know there was a lot of pressure from Manny to do that, and he had this entire country here behind him. Even in America, a lot of people, including myself, were rooting for him in that fight so maybe he felt obligated to compete and go out there and perform regardless of the injury. I respect that as an athlete, but it’s a very difficult decision to make.
There has been times in my career where I had injuries that were too bad to take a fight, but most of the time I feel like I can work through it and that I can still win a fight.
On Jon Jones’ suspension:
I hate to pass judgment on Jon Jones. We’re all human and we all make mistakes. I don’t know the exact situation on everything, but with everything compiled, I think the UFC made a right decision. I think that it’s time that a statement is made. I think a lot of times before that have just kind of gone by, and they’ve given him numerous opportunities. He’s the champion of our sport, he’s considered one of the best fighters in the world and it’s just unfortunate to give our sport that kind of a bad rap. So I think the UFC needed to make a statement that we don’t support that and don’t condone it.
Hopefully Jon Jones will get his name cleared and come back to fighting because I think everyone enjoys watching him fight, including myself. I wish him well.
On Edgar vs. Faber:
Frankie Edgar and Urijah Faber is an interesting match up. It’s not a fight that I thought would ever happen, so I’m really excited to see the fight. I think Edgar has a really tough style match up for Urijah. Urijah going up in weight is going to be interesting to see how he transitions back to that.
They’re both extremely game. They both have that will to never give up, and I don’t know how either of them is going to finish the other one because they’re both so good, so strong and so tough. When you have two people that are so well rounded, a lot of times it’s hard enough to find a big enough hole at the other’s game to finish that person.
We can get [five] rounds of an amazing fight, but regardless of what happens, I do think it's going to be one of the best that night.
Follow me on twitter -- @antontabuena
