Former Strikeforce women's bantamweight champion Miesha Tate faces a long road back to challenging UFC titleholder Ronda Rousey, so "Cupcake" is looking to knock off another potential contender.
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Bethe Correia has worked her way into the title conversation by defeating Rousey's friends and training partners and by constantly calling out the UFC women's bantamweight champion in the media. Tate said she hopes to fight the up-and-coming Brazilian contender.
"I really want to fight Bethe Correia," Tate told Ask Men, according to MMAMania.com. "She's doing really well and she's not afraid to engage in a fight. She's undefeated and she has an exciting style of fighting."
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Tate is coming off a win over Rin Nakai last month, her second straight victory after suffering a second loss to Rousey in December. But Tate wasn't satisfied with the win, saying the fight was boring because of Nakai's grappling style. She believes Correia's kickboxing approach would make for an exciting fight.
"My last two opponents that I beat just wanted to grab a hold of me and take me to the ground," she said. "They did not want to throw punches with me at all. It's not as fun for me. I like people that want to stand up and fight. I feel like Correia is well rounded and we could win fight of the night.
"It's hard to win fight of the night when one of the two people in the ring just want to hold on to you or lay on you," she continued. "I want to fight someone that isn't afraid to stand up with me. Let's give the fans what they want to see and throw punches until someone goes down."
Rousey is expected to defend her title against top contender Cat Zingano, who also holds a win over Tate, at UFC 182 on Jan. 3.
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