“Pick yourself up by the boot straps.”
Miesha Tate may be the new UFC women’s bantamweight champion after defeating Holly Holm at UFC 196, but she hasn’t always had it her own way.
It’s for that reason that the 29-year-old sympathises with Ronda Rousey, who’s been having a tough time recently following her loss to Holm back in December.
Rousey has said that she felt suicidal in her lowest moments after the bruising battle with Holm, and Tate, who previously lost her Strikeforce belt to Rowdy, can empathise.
“I felt bad in a way, because I sympathise for (Rousey) in those emotions of feeling so down,” she told the Jim Rome Show.
“I’ve never been to the point where I’ve considered taking my own life over this sport, but I have been down to the point where I felt like my soul was dead. So I can sympathise with that, and I know how hard it is.”
Tate believes Rousey’s troubles may have taught her a bit more humility after dominating the field for so long and enjoying a long spell at the front of the UFC hype train.
“Now maybe she can understand what’s it’s been like for everyone she’s defeated and just kind of walked over,” she continued.
“When you lose, it’s really, really hard. It’s really devastating, and I understand what she’s going through, because I’ve been there before, and we all go through those things in life.
“Those emotions you get when you get down and out and you get knocked down and get kicked while you’re down, you’ve just got to kind of pick yourself up by the boot straps, put one foot in front of the other, and that’s the reason why I’m the world champion today.”
There has been talk of a Tate v Rousey rematch at UFC 200, but if the reigning champion’s boyfriend and coach, Bryan Caraway, gets his way Amanda Nunes will apparently be next in line for a title shot.
