Miesha Tate Chokes Holly Holm, Flabbergasts Ronda Rousey

Miesha Tate "choked out" Holly Holm for the bantamweight mixed martial arts UFC title over the weekend, a surprise victory that muddles things for Ronda Rousey who had been counting on fighting Holm to regain the title.

Rousey has beaten Tate twice, noted Fox Sports, and the turn of events may set up a third match between the two this year, 

Tate used a choke hold in the fifth round at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday to render Holm unconscious and capture the title, said the MMAfighting.com website.

In November, Holm shocked the sporting world by knocking out the then-undefeated Rousey in the second round of a title bout in Melbourne, Australia.

"I knew I had to finish the fight," said Tate. "I knew I had to be perfect in the fifth round."

UFC president Dana White told Fox News that he exchanged text messages with Rousey after the fight, who didn't watch the Tate-Holm fight live because she was at a wresting match..

"I text Ronda and she said 'What happened?'" White said. "I said 'Miesha just choked her unconscious' and she said 'Looks like I've got to get back to work.'"

Tate's win ruined a proposed big money rematch between Holm and Rousey, but Holm told the Los Angeles Times she had no regrets about facing Tate.

"Everyone before this (Tate) fight was saying, 'Why are you taking this fight? You should be going for the rematch,'" Holm said, noted the Times. "You know what, I'm in it to fight. I made some mistakes. I'll fix those mistakes and come back stronger. Miesha capitalized, she's a scrapper. I let my guard down and it cost me the fight. I wanted to take this challenge. I'm here to fight."

White told the Times that he is now focusing on having Tate face Rousey a third time.

"For Miesha, you've got a potential fight with Ronda and that fight makes sense," said White. "But we need to get back in the office this week and start having those discussions."

Rousey has beaten Tate by submission two times before, first for the Strikeforce bantamweight title 2012 and in 2013 at UFC 168 in December 2013, noted the website MMAjunkie.com.

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