The two rivals clash for the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship.
The two women first met at Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey in 2012, with the latter walking out victorious and becoming the Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champion. The two competitors would make the transition over to the UFC a short time later and Rousey make an impactful debut by beating Liz Carmouche via submission at UFC 157. This continued the champ’s dominance in the women’s bantamweight division as Rousey was on a seven-fight winning streak at this point, with a professional record of 7 wins and 0 losses.
Tate had more experience on her side at this point, and was on a strong six-fight winning streak before dropping the Strikeforce belt to Rousey. Her wins over Maiju Kujala and Hitomi Akano in the Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight tournament got her the opportunity to face Marloes Coenen for the prestigious belt, which she won in the fourth round via submission.
Following her bout against Rousey, Tate managed to rebound a bit with a win over Julie Kedzie in August 2012; however, her UFC debut at The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale saw the former Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Champion lose to Cat Zingano.
Still, this was a hotly anticipated women’s bout featuring the two top female fighters in the world at this point. Rousey would ultimately prove to be the better fighter on this night; however, Tate gave up one hell of a fight before losing in the third round. Check out the big match-up below: