On Saturday, UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey will defend her title against Miesha Tate, the fighter she defeated to become the Strikeforce women's bantamweight champion in March 2012.
Rousey would defend the Strikeforce title once before that promotion was absorbed into the UFC. Following that transition, Rousey was named the first female champion in UFC history. Rousey's first defense of her UFC title came in February of this year. In that bout, Rousey defeated Liz Carmouche via armbar. The win moved Rousey's record to a perfect 7-0, with all of those wins coming via first round armbar submission.
With the fight against Tate on the horizon, the ultra competitive Rousey decided she needed to up the pressure on herself, taking back-to-back movie roles while preparing for UFC 168.
Ariel Helwani caught up with Rousey in the days leading up to UFC 168, and asked her why she decided to accept roles in Fast and Furious 7 and The Expendables 3 when conventional wisdom would have had her in camp preparing for Tate:
I need people to prove people wrong about something. I can't just have everyone think it's (victory) a foregone conclusion. That doesn't get me motivated. I need to have people doubting me, and I needed to create a reason for people to doubt me because I already won the UFC title, and I already beat Miesha. So, I needed to come up with a way to make it even more difficult.
I need to find a way to make sure I do something that's never been done before for every single fight because that's the only way I'm really going to fight to my fullest potential.
Rousey and Tate will meet on Saturday night in the co-main event of UFC 168. The main event of the evening will see Chris Weidman defend his UFC middleweight title against Anderson Silva.
- Bruce Buffer recalls his most embarrassing moment inside the Octagon
- Josh Barnett on training with a giant octopus, and having his eye on the latest model Rascal
- UFC 168: Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman preview and the prognostication
- UFC 168: Weidman vs. Silva II live results and play-by-play for main card fights
- UFC 168: Weidman vs. Silva II - live results and play-by-play for preliminary fights