Written by Des Bieler at the WashingtonPost.com
Holly Holm was about two minutes away from likely escaping UFC 196 with a narrow win, one that would have kept a lucrative rematch with Ronda Rousey on track. Instead, Miesha Tate stunned the bantamweight champion, ending Holm’s first title defense with a rear naked choke in the closing moments of the final round.
In the wake of Saturday’s result, UFC president Dana White said that “Ronda now will fight Miesha Tate for the title.” However, Holm has another idea, suggesting not only a rematch between herself and Tate, but one that would take place at UFC 200, the company’s planned extravaganza in July.
In an Instagram post Monday, Holm wrote, “I am down but not out,” and told Tate, “Let’s do this again. UFC 200 is just around the corner.”
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. UFC 200 is set to be the company’s biggest event of the year, held at a brand-new Las Vegas arena. But there is no card for it at the moment.
It had been widely speculated that, after Holm shocked Rousey at UFC 193 in November, White wanted her to wait until UFC 200 for her next fight, which would have been a blockbuster rematch. Then it began to sound like Rousey, busy with movie commitments, might not be ready to fight in July but when she was ready later in the year, the rematch with Holm awaited.
Now the fact that Tate holds the bantamweight crown scrambles the calculations. She has fought and lost to Rousey twice already, but the pair are longstanding antagonists and MMA fans could be reasonably expected to get excited about a third meeting, especially with Rousey in the unusual position of title challenger.
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