mma / Columns

Holly Holm vs. Miesha Tate Is the Right Play

January 14, 2016 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris

During last week’s edition of UFC Tonight, UFC President Dana White revealed that the newly crowned women’s bantamweight champion, Holly Holm, would likely take another fight before the incredibly desired rematch with the recently dethroned champion, Ronda Rousey. White stated, “Holly Holm will fight before she fights Ronda.” While White and the UFC brass have been pushing Holm vs. Rousey II very hard, that would not happen until UFC 200 at the very earliest. Holm and her manager, Lenny Fresquez, have already made it clear that Holm would rather not wait for the rematch, and she wants to take a fight before then. This week, the UFC finally made the fight official, and Holly Holm vs. Miesha Tate was signed for UFC 197. Making htis fight now was the right move. If Holm waited for Rousey, she would’ve basically been stuck waiting over nine months for her next fight. Now Holm faces the No. 2-ranked contender Miesha Tate. With Rousey taking some time away from MMA, this is really the best fight the UFC can put together for the division.

The women’s bantamweight division cannot be the Ronda Rousey show forever. Based on her own words, she already seems to have one foot out the door of MMA and is thinking about her exit plan, especially after her goal of retiring undefeated has been shattered. She suffered an incredibly humbling defeat at the hands of Holly Holm. But, Tate vs. Holm is the perfect match-up to actually test the value and drawing power of this division outside of Rousey. For the last several years, women’s bantamweight MMA has essentially revolved around Ronda Rousey and her dominance. That’s over now. There’s a new champion on the block, and the UFC can’t rely on Rousey’s drawing power forever.

Obviously, Holm and Tate are never going to come close to touching Rousey’s drawing power at her peak. However, the potential for these two to draw is clearly there. Holm’s buzz is at an all-time high after her defeat of Rousey. Ever since she beat Rousey, Holm has been all over the media. A fresh title fight for Holm can exploit her new-found popularity. Tate has quite the following of her own, especially on social media. She has over 707,000 followers on Instagram and almost half a million followers on Twitter. Her Facebook page has over 1.5 million likes. She has already been a part of some big fights with Rousey. Tate has a lot of fan appeal. In short, Tate is someone the UFC can market the hell out of to be a superstar. Tate is riding a big wave of momentum with a four-fight winning streak. She arguably already earned a shot at the title by beating Jessica Eye, at least in the words of Dana White. So she’s really the most feasible title contender for Holm right now. She’s generally been the legit No. 2 of the division outside of Rousey for quite some time. She fought her way back up to earn a title shot. If you have a healthy Holm and a healthy Tate, what is the point of waiting another six to seven months for another rematch?

Not to mention, if styles make fights, Tate has an interesting style to perhaps seriously challenge Holm. Just because Tate got dominated by Rousey twice does not mean that Holm will be able to do the same. Tate is a strong wrestler and grappler who pushes a good pace. She’s got a good chin and power of her own in her hands. In the past, Holm’s struggled with some of her UFC opponents when she’s not always able to maintain distance and range. If Tate gets inside and pushes the pace, that could give Holm some problems in a prospective fight. While I favor Holm’s skills in this match-up, I see ways that Tate could possibly grind out a win.

If the Holm/Rousey rematch is what the UFC truly wants, it’s not really going away. No matter what happens, even if Tate defeats Holm, the rematch will still be there if the UFC wants it. There are enough immediate rematches going around already, and it’s become tiresome. UFC is running Fabricio Werdum vs. Cain Velasquez at heavyweight again when it makes absolutely no sense. It made no sense to book the Renan Barao vs. TJ Dillashaw rematch when it happened either. Tate vs. Holm is a fresh title fight we have never seen before. As of writing this column, the UFC has not yet officially announced this match-up. Regardless, It’s big new fight for the division. If women’s MMA is to survive in the UFC, you have to build stars and title fights other than Rousey. That’s why Holm vs. Tate is the best possible UFC could have made this year.

Jeffrey Harris is 411mania’s resident Jack of All Trades and has covered MMA for the site since 2008. You can shoot him an e-mail at [email protected] or hit him up on Facebook. You can also check out the latest edition of the podcast he co-hosts alongside Robert Winfree, The 411 Ground & Pound Radio Show, below.