...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
When Dana White said early Monday that he was interested in pushing the rematch between Chris Weidman and Anderson Silva to the UFC 168 card on Dec. 28, apparently he was giving some consideration to moving the Ronda Rousey-Miesha Tate fight off of that card. That wouldn't have made a lot of sense, given Rousey's been on the shelf to film The Ultimate Fighter 18, and that UFC 168 card is the first pay-per-view after the reality show's conclusion in December.
Furthermore, Rousey herself wasn't really into that idea. In an interview with the LA Times, Rousey said she understood why White was thinking about it, but that she wasn't interested in waiting.
"I don't want to be on the shelf too long... it's not optimal, but I can handle anything," Rousey said. "I would like to be on the New Year’s card, but I can see why Dana wants that [rematch] to get done as soon as possible."
Fortunately for Rousey, White had a change of heart, and in that same piece from the LA Times, Lance Pugmire stated that White decided that Silva-Weidman will not take place on Dec. 28 after all. It was a long shot in the first place, as Silva wanted to take time off after his loss to Weidman anyway.
So for now, things are going forward as expected, with Rousey-Tate on Dec. 28, and Weidman-Silva II sometime early in 2014 if they can get Silva to agree to the rematch.
Penick's Analysis: I misread the situation earlier today, as I didn't think they'd give serious consideration to moving Rousey-Tate. They'd just announced it, for one, and that fight does not need to be delayed any further. Still, it could have been a massive event had both fights taken place on that same card. For Rousey, she'll stay on the event, and White now wants to get her three fights in 2014 to make up for the layoff this year. That's a good thing for her, and hopefully they can get Weidman-Silva II on Super Bowl weekend as originally expected.
(Attention MMATorch app users: Make sure to upgrade to the latest edition of the MMATorch app on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device!)
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.