Tate vs Rousey: Strikeforce Ladies Need a Lesson in Trash Talking

Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey are unfamiliar with Muhammad Ali.

They have to be because their war of words has been laughable going into the Strikeforce main event on March 3.  If Tate and Rousey want to put women’s MMA fighting on the map, they’re going to have to pick up their trash-talk game.

Check out this video of their intense weigh-in.

What an exchange.

Each fighter bolted to Twitter after the weigh-in to sound off about the forehead-kiss.  Rousey tweeted:

"

For the record, she touched my forehead first.... Gotta go eat, I'm disappearing from the tweetverse till after the fight ;)

— Ronda Rousey (@RondaRousey) March 2, 2012"

Tate responded:

"

Weigh-ins got a little heated but we both weighed in at 134.5lbs, she looks like a little shrimp now lol anyways time 4 the #RouseyStomp!!

— Miesha Tate (@MieshaTate) March 2, 2012"

Yeah, this is the “selling of the fight” that the promoter attempted to hype up during the weigh-in.  Sure, the effort from both sides is there to turn this matchup into a must-see rivalry, but the pair needs to do some serious film study on Ali.

According to the Los Angeles Daily News’  Brian Martin, Tate definitely isn’t buying Rousey as a -310 favorite (according to Bodog) saying:

"

“People hear about the Olympics and all the armbar submissions and they put her on a pedestal.  A lot of people buy into the hype.  I want to prove what Ronda's really made of.  In my opinion, she hasn't fought any fights yet.  She's never done any striking.  She seems desperate to finish early and doesn't want to be out there.  She just wants to get out of there.”

"

Rousey laughed off any concern over her quick finishes as she has reportedly said:

"

“I find that hilarious. Of course, I'm going to capitalize on the first opportunity I see.  In judo, I was always working at a size and strength disadvantage.  I was a speed and endurance fighter.  I'm more conditioned than I've ever been in my life, so that's pretty poor planning for them.”

"

This last Tate tweet, though, is the most telling example of why the two need help:

"

When a woman calls a man out, she can deal with the consequences. #RouseyStomp

— Miesha Tate (@MieshaTate) March 3, 2012"

She just called herself a man.

No one that doesn’t live under a rock would tune into Saturday night’s fight enamored with the storyline.  If Tate vs. Rousey lives up to expectations and they meet again, Round 2 would be highly anticipated.  But only if they somewhat learn how to float like a butterfly and trash talk like Ali.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

Follow @TheRealDDaniels