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Posted by Mika Frankl
The UFC has seen the light or enough armbars to get it; women’s MMA does have its place in combat sports and now in the UFC. TMZ.com first reported the story that the UFC and Strikeforce women’s Bantamweight champion “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey (6-0) have come to an agreement for Rousey to fight in the UFC. Not too long after that news was made more public by Spike TV’s MMA Uncensored on Thursday November 8, 2012 former Strikeforce women’s Bantamweight champion Miesha “Cupcake” Tate (13-3) tweeted “So Stoked to be Fighting for the @ufc it’s been a dream of mine for a long time! So happy it’s finally come true :-D”
Dana White once said women would never compete in the UFC; that was less than two years ago. “Never,” for Dana White, sure did come quickly.
Ronda Rousey has taken the MMA world by storm with 6 fights and 6 dominant wins by armbar all in the 1st round and has become the face of women’s MMA. Rousey’s first love in combat sports was Judo in which she became the 1st women’s Judo medalist in the U.S. History, with a bronze medal in the 2008 games. Rousey won her MMA debut over Ediene Gomes on March 27, 2011, now 17 months later Rousey is reaching heights of stardom that no woman had seen and only few men had attained. Rousey captured the Strikforce women’s Bantamweight title from Miesha Tate on March 3, 2011. Most recently Rousey defeated Sarah Kaufman on August 18, 2012.
Miesha Tate is coming off a 3rd round armbar victory over Julie Kedzie on August 18, 2012. “Cupcake” is a former Strikeforce Bantamweight champion a she defeated Marloes Coenen for in July 2011. Tate would lose her 1st title defense to Ronda Rousey. Tate came to MMA from a grappling and wrestling background as a state champion wrestler and a FILA Grappling Championships silver medalist. Tate has 9 wins by stoppage with 3 TKO/KO’s and 6 submissions.
With the announcement that January 12, 2013 will be the last Strikeforce event, expect many more announcements of fighters heading to the UFC from Strikeforce.
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