UFC women's champ Ronda Rousey doesn't believe Miesha Tate's handshake offer was sincere

When Ronda Rousey finished off Miesha Tate in the third round of their UFC 168 bout it was a great moment for the UFC champ. What came next was either another great moment, or a new low for Rousey.

Tate walked toward here and extended her hand, a seemingly "classy" gesture given the bad blood between the two. Rousey refused the handshake and walked away. Some immediately branded her classless or a poor sport, but Rousey thinks the gesture was phony and that she did the right thing for herself and her camp.

Via MMA Fighting:

"I really think that if me and her fought alone in her gym if there weren't people there watching, she wouldn't have offered her hand to me," Rousey said at a Wednesday media luncheon. "Her actions were entirely influenced by being watched. My actions were all despite being watched."

...

"It's not a fakeable moment and it was entirely the right thing to do because I didn't think about it," Rousey said. "It was immediate. It was just like, ‘nope.' Maybe if I took the time to think about it I would have changed my mind, but then it would have been the wrong decision, because it would have meant that my first inclination, I mean, I had that for a reason."

There will never be unanimous opinion on Rousey's refusal. To someone like me, it seemed like a great "moment" that helped to build the Legend Of Ronda. But I'm also someone who doesn't get off on the "roots" of martial arts and finds "respect and honor" to matter little in modern boxing and MMA. This is "professional hurt the other person," after all.

But others cling to the idea that every hand must be shook, every bro/sis hug a lengthy embrace and every beef squashed at the moment one party wishes to do so.

To each their own.