Miesha Tate rooting for Amanda Nunes over Ronda Rousey

It’s no secret that former UFC women’s bantamweight champion, Miesha Tate and former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey have a very long and bitter rivalry dating back to the Strikeforce days of both women’s careers.

Earlier this month, Tate retired at the UFC’s historic UFC 205 card in New York, where she dropped a unanimous decision to Raquel Pennington, whom she coached on The Ultimate Fighter several years ago. Next month, Rousey will make her highly anticipated return to the Octagon in the main event of UFC 207 as she returns from her yearlong hiatus to fight UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes on the highly anticipated New Years Eve card.

Ahead of that fight, Tate spoke to MMAJunkie to discuss the fight, and the questions she has regarding Rousey’s return to the Octagon:

“I guess what’s really difficult for me to decide is what we’re going to get out of Rousey,” Tate said. “Is she doing it because she wants to or is she doing it before she feels obligated? Is that knockout going to be in the back of her mind? Is she going to be punch shy? It’s kind of like – I remember when I went skiing for the first time, I was like 5 years old and I just blitzed down the hill. I had no fear. The first time that I wrecked really, really hard is when I realized this is actually dangerous … so you kind of wonder what has that put in the back of her mind?”

Tate, having shared the Octagon with both women, went on to give a brief breakdown of the fight, before giving her thoughts on who she would like to see win the fight.

“I know that Amanda is a very solid fighter and she hits like a ton of bricks,” Tate said. “She’s a very worthy opponent. It should be interesting. … I want Amanda to win. She’s a sweetheart and a good girl. I think she deserves it.”