Big Bad Blog Video Theatre-Cat Zingano vs Miesha Tate

Here's the match video from last night's The Ultimate Fighter finale in Las Vegas with Miesha Tate vs Cat Zingano. This is a big fight. The winner will be a coach on the next The Ultimate Fighter and gets a shot at Ronda Rousey's UFC Women's Bantamweight Championship. There are other questions to be answered. Does Miesha Tate still want to be a fighter? She didn't behave much like a fighter when she escaped with a win over Julie Kedzie last August. Maybe she would have quit if the UFC hadn't come calling. But she's Cat Zingano's best opponent to date. And this was Cat's first fight for a national promotion. That became an issue early in the fight. Afterwards, Cat admitted suffering from what I call the UFC debut jitters. And she didn't snap out of it until the end of round two. So I thought Miesha won the first two rounds. But she seemed to run out of gas in the last minute of round two. And no doubt Cat's husband and trainer Mauricio Zingano told her between rounds that she needed a finish. So in round three, Cat demonstrated the kind of urgency that a lot of fighters don't show even when they're down two rounds. She hammered Miesha in round three and a couple of knees set up ref Kim Winslow's stoppage. Too bad it was a bad stoppage. Recently I was discussing this fight with Bellator fighter Michelle Ould. She thought Cat would win. But I pointed out that Miesha has taken a beating before and pulled out a submission win out of nowhere. She agreed. So Winslow stopped the fight because she thought Miesha was falling down when she was actually going for a takedown. It's part of the ref's job to know fighter behaviour. And Miesha has the ability to get clobbered and then win by submission. I can't say what would have happened if the fight wasn't stopped. But if it had gone the distance, Miesha would have won the fight. BTW, there was no illegal knee at the end of the fight. People should shut up. Congratulations to Cat Zingano. This is a big opportunity. And also congratulations to both fighters for winning the Fight Of The Night bonus. And Kim Winslow needs a real job. Enjoy the video!