Love your enemy

It didn't get very "rowdy" on Tuesday's Strikeforce conference call.

No, the interaction between (Rowdy) Ronda Rousey and Miesha (Takedown) Tate was pretty tame.

In fact, dare I say they were even a bit, er, complimentary of each other.

Of course, the headliners of Strikeforce's next event, who will fight for the women's bantamweight championship on March 3 in Columbus, Ohio, weren't in the same room, so there was no opportunity for glares or the kind of body language that can lead to more tense situations.

That helped, because it's no secret these two girls don't like each other. And they've been quite vocal about it.

Their beefs are pretty well summarized in an article in the most recent edition of Sportsnet Magazine. But on Tuesday those listening learned just a little bit more about where they're coming from. And there is a little bit of respect there.

Rousey, the more outspoken challenger, admitted that some of the things she's said -- or at least the way she said them -- were more about hyping the fight.

"I understand why she doesn't like me, why she would take it personal, because I've been being pretty much overtly rude," Rousey said. "I haven't been lying or saying anything I think wasn't true, but I've been saying things I wouldn't say to people's faces usually because it's not polite."

"I think that if we met under different circumstances, if things weren't the way they were, we probably would've ended up being friends," she added. "And the result of how much attention this fight's been getting, that just proves me right (to create the rivalry.)"

For her part, Tate said she definitely doesn't think Rousey has earned her shot from a "paying your dues" perspective, but that doesn't mean she isn't deserving from a talent point of view.

"I think that Ronda has a lot of hype," Tate said. "Now, it doesn't mean that her skillset's not great (or that) she's not going to be the next world's greatest fighter. But I don't feel that she's earned this title fight."

Given Rousey's mixed martial arts track record, it's hard not to agree with Tate's point. The Olympic judoka is just 4-0 in MMA and is now getting a shot at the belt. One can naturally draw a parallel to Brock Lesnar, who fought for the UFC heavyweight belt in just his fourth pro MMA fight.

Rousey said that's a fair comparison.

"I think my pre-MMA background is a little bit more than his was (but) I understand the comparison," Rousey said. "He also did win, so yes, compare all you want!"

Lesnar had an extensive collegiate wrestling career before going into pro wrestling, which while scripted, still demanded a great deal of athleticism and skill.

Rousey has her extensive judo experience, something Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker pointed to on Tuesday in defending the matchup.

"Ronda has been in the Olympics, as you know, two times, and has probably had more mat work than any female mixed martial artist that I know of," Coker said.

In addition, Rousey has actually been more impressive in her MMA career than Lesnar, who was just 2-1 when he got his shot at Randy Couture's belt. Rousey has won all seven of her fights (pro and amateur) and she also did so within one minute, all by armbar.

So she could present even more of a danger to Tate as Lesnar did to Couture. Tate is well aware of this.

But rather than take the opportunity to trash-talk and suggest that Rousey may be one-dimensional, she did the opposite.

"I haven't seen much more than what we've seen inside a minute, but I'm sure Ronda has more than just an armbar," Tate said. "I've never been a believer that she's only a one-trick pony."

But Tate was still insistent there are other fighters more deserving of the title shot, naming not just former champion Sarah Kaufman, who herself has been pretty vocal about her deserving the opportunity over Rousey, but Kaufman's opponent on the same card -- another Canadian Alexis Davis.

However, she realizes the importance of this fight, the first female bout to headline a major MMA card, and how Strikeforce needs to do whatever it can to give it the most attention.

"It's an entertainment business, and this is the fight that the fans want to see, and from that aspect, I can understand," Tate said. "And the hype, the selling points and the marketing points -- I understand all of that because it's not just the sport. The sport is the most important part, but ... if nobody wants to watch it then it's more of a detriment than anything else."

Strikeforce has certainly been providing as much opportunity to promote the fight as possible. Last week, each fighter produced a first blog entry leading into their fight:

Rousey: Overcoming obstacles | Tate: Moment of realization

They will be writing a couple more before the two gals duke it out in the cage early next month. I don't know if they read each other's blog, but if they do perhaps the anger will continue to simmer.

But Tate said Tuesday she was glad for this, because it's lit a fire under her and that will be good for her career.

"She's really pissed me off in a lot of ways, and I've taken a lot of what she's said very personally," Tate said. "I think this is exactly what I needed, someone to get under my skin a little bit and irritate me to really bring out my full potential as a fighter.

"And that's exactly what I'm going to do. I'm going to turn this into a fight ... make it dirty and I'm really going to try to hurt her and knock her out or submit her."

Mission accomplished for Rousey, who said she felt she could win the title the day she started MMA but wanted to fast-track her way to that chance and knew that quickest way would be by promoting some bad blood with the champ.

"I created this rivalry on purpose because I had enough friends and I could use a few enemies," Rousey said.

She's made a mutual one in Tate, even if they managed to show each other some respect on Tuesday.

Don't expect any such display on March 3.

"I never saved anything for the swim back."

Speaking of rivalries, if Tuesday were a competition of words, Rousey gets my nod, if only for making reference to one of my favourite movies, "Gattaca" starring Ethan Hawke.

She compared the pressure she's put on herself to succeed to a scene near the end of the movie where Hawke's character is trying to outswim his more athletic brother, who eventually asks him how he's able to beat him.

Check out the scene here. (The line Rousey references is at the 3:27 mark.)

James Brydon is the Managing Digital Editor and blogger for sportsnet.ca's UFC section.