Miesha Tate opens up about Ronda Rousey and coaching 'TUF'

Miesha Tate left no doubt about her feelings from the experience of coaching opposite rival Ronda Rousey on "The Ultimate Fighter,"

"Horrible," Tate said Tuesday during a media lunch in Manhattan. "Straight-up terrible."

Well, then. Perhaps this 18th season of "TUF", which begins Wednesday night on Fox Sports 1 after UFC Fight Night, will live up to the early buzz about how Tate and Rousey still despise one another.

"Having to deal with her negativity every day, flipping me off and cussing me out, I really made the conscious decision to be better, not bitter," Tate said. "My goal with the show was to stay true to myself. Not to allow Ronda Rousey to manipulate me and be upset because it's not fun being pissed off all the time."

Tate touched on a number of topics during the interview, including being a coach for the first time, the potential growth of women's MMA, and yes, more Rousey. (Highlights of the interview are in the video above.)

"We both don't really like each other, but she puts on this tough girl act, and she acts like she's all big and bad, and she tries this intimidation factor," Tate said. "I just felt like I saw right through it."

Tate will have the opportunity to challenge for Rousey's UFC bantamweight title at UFC 168 in Las Vegas on Dec. 28. Long Island's Chris Weidman headlines the card with his first middleweight title defense against the man he took the belt from -- Anderson Silva.

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Rousey vs. Tate is also a rematch. Rousey took Tate's title when they both fought in Strikeforce before being absorbed into the UFC's newly created women's division.

As she has done with all of her MMA opponents, Rousey submitted Tate via armbar in the first round. Tate was the first of Rousey's opponents, pro or amateur, to last longer than one minute in the cage against her. Tate lasted 4:27 in their March 2012 bout. In Rousey's two subsequent bouts, only Liz Carmouche went longer (4:49).

Rousey and Tate didn't like each other then, and they don't like each other now. And it appears to be genuine, not just contrived contempt aimed at selling the fight. But maybe there's a softening on the horizon from one side.

"After I beat her, and when she eventually dumps that boyfriend of hers [UFC fighter Bryan Caraway]," Rousey told Newsday last month. "If she ever hits me up and wanted to talk over some buffalo wings and Ben & Jerry's, I would oblige her."