Tate And Rousey Explain Wanting Exciting Finishes

During the Strikeforce conference call, Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey were asked about the importance of having an exciting finish. More specifically, if they felt there was extra pressure to have one.

Rounda Rousey: “I’ve always felt like that. It’s not just the fans and the media that make me feel like I have to finish and be exciting. It’s the situation of Women’s MMA in general. You know, we’re not just fighting for one victory for ourselves, we are fighting for an entire sport, every single time that we fight. So, I don’t feel like that pressure has changed the least little bit. You know, I fight to be exciting, and to finish because that’s what the women need.”

Miesha Tate: “As for me, it’s basically the same thing. I just feel like we have a responsibility as women to stick together and really try to help out the other girls. Especially, since Ronda and I are getting the opportunity for the lime light. The thing about Women’s MMA, when you have very little opportunities for max exposure, you have to make the most out of it. It’s gotta be the most bang for your buck because women’s fights usually get maybe one televised spot out of the whole fight card. So let’s say there’s four or five spots, women get one, the guys get four or five. Every fight card I have ever seen there’s usually been one fight that is really exciting, at least, and one fight that’s, you know, mediocre or maybe even really terrible and boring. Sometimes that happens in Women’s MMA as well, but when we only get that one small opportunity to shine, we don’t have a broad spectrum of all these women’s fights getting shown to show the depth and dynamic that some are exciting and some are not. All of Women’s MMA gets based, kind of, on one fight because that’s the fight that is getting exposure. It doesn’t matter about the smaller fight card, cage sport, that has this fantastic scene with that. There’s added pressure in the fact that there is a lot riding on our shoulders for the future of Women’s MMA and how people see it and if they respect it or not. It is really important that we perform well.”

To hear the question in its entirety and a follow up with Scott Coker explaining the plans for the rest of Women’s MMA for 2012 use the player below.