Miesha Tate told the UFC not to contact her directly after Ronda Rousey fight snub
Last year Ronda Rousey made $6 million as a UFC champion. But what about Miesha Tate, the woman who fought (and lost) to "Rowdy" on two different occasions?
"I made nowhere near that – nowhere even close to that," Tate said on Monday's edition of The MMA Hour. "Yet they want me to fight higher-ranked, and much better-skilled opponents than Ronda is fighting. And she gets paid millions and I get paid pennies on the dollar.
"...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. And I will not take fights if my heart is not in it, period, it doesn't matter who it is. If I don't feel good about it, I'm not going to do it. The whole reason I do this sport is because I love it. And when the politics get in the way and they start messing [expletive] up, excuse my language, I'm just not gonna stand for it."
Tate, 29, has been at odds with the Las Vegas-based fight promotion for the majority of 2015. The bad blood began when "Cupcake" was promised a title shot against Rousey (her third) after rattling off four very impressive wins a row.
The UFC, however, reneged on their promise and blindsided Tate by booking Holly Holm as the next title challenger -- and it didn't exactly give a sound explanation when it did.
Holm will meet Rousey in Melbourne, Australia in two weeks inside the 70,000-seat Etihad Stadium.
A nice payday that -- in Tate's opinion (and at one time the UFC's) -- she'd earned.
The news of the title snub sent Tate into a self-admitted depression. She calls it 'like never waking up from a nightmare.' She says that she has always been a team player, a company woman, but she felt the Holm-Rousey fight was a stab in the back.
Recently, Tate decided to end direct communication with the UFC, referring all business chatter to her manager, Josh Jones.
"I was frustrated to say the least and I told [the UFC] that I want you guys to just deal with Josh," Tate said. "...I said just talk to him, you guys figure it out and you let me know what's going on. So I really put Josh in charge of all of that and I told the UFC, 'Don't contact me, don't contact me directly. I don't really want to hear exactly what you guys have to say unless it's coming from Josh."
Tate says she is at a crossroads in her career. She isn't sure if there is a point to fighting if there is no chance at gold in sight. Retirement is an option, although it's not what she wants. She says that she is staying busy with her work as an analyst on Fox Sports and other entertainment obligations, but in her heart, she is a fighter.
Despite any official talk between Tate and the UFC, she did briefly speak with UFC president Dana White in the hopes of setting up a future face-to-face meeting.
"I need to know for myself, for my career, what my next move is going to be," Tate said. "And I have some more demands that I want to make. I realized that Ronda is making a lot and...when I walk out to my weigh-ins, when I walk out to my fights, I have an amazing fanbase. They always show their love and appreciation."
She continued, "I don't think any of us want the retirement to be the situation, so the UFC needs to wake up and smell the coffee and make something work."
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