Miesha Tate on Bethe Correia: “Rookie mistakes by a rookie”

Ahead of her third and possibly final bout with UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, ‘Cupcake’ is keen to set things straight.

Miesha Tate has earned the right to fight after dropping Jessica Eye and proving herself to be the singular threat in the division. ‘Rowdy’s arch enemy “has not heard anything from the UFC” about the contest, but it seems to be only a matter of time and she’s already preparing for the battle ahead.

Tate watched Rousey demolish Bethe Correia at UFC 190 earlier in the month, but according to the former Strikeforce champ, there’s not much “value’ to learn from that.

“Well, I don’t think Bethe compares as a fighter to any of the girls in the top 10 so I don’t really value that fight that much,” Tate stated during a live chat with fans at the Seattle Times.

“I know I wouldn’t go down like that and I wouldn’t turn and run so I get punched in the back of the head. Rookie mistakes by a rookie.”

“The last fight was hard to take anything away from really. I think Bethe is nowhere near the level she was competing with so she made some bad mistakes, and in my opinion (she) just isn’t that good.”

Tate claims her spells in the Octagon with Rousey have greatly benefited her game, granting her both hindsight and invaluable knowledge.

“Now I know more of her tendencies and go to moves,” she states, after having fought Ronda across 4 rounds. “Before that 2nd fight with her, I was much less aware of what to expect because her fights were so short largely due to her unique fighting style”

“I think the element of surprise is a huge factor, I think I have some things in my arsenal that I didn’t before and Ronda has never been challenged the way I will challenge her, she knows I’m her biggest threat to the title right now in the division and I am ready to bring the fight to her.”

“I’m really focused on not making the same mistakes I did before. All of Ronda’s takedowns I handed to her. That was dumb and I won’t make the same mistake again.”

As for the champs strategy, Tate thinks it’s pretty straight forward.

“I think she thinks she will strike with me, but I think once I crack her a good one she will resort to her Judo once again”

Whatever happens on the night, this is bound to be a truly exciting climatic war between the two flagships in their weight division.