Cat Zingano has dropped out of coaching The Ultimate Fighter 18 opposite to Ronda Rousey due to a knee injury and will be replaced by Rousey’s rival, Miesha Tate.
#BREAKING: @catzingano has dropped out of TUF Season 18 due to knee injury. She’ll be replaced by @mieshatate. Story developing…
— UFC Tonight (@UFCTonight) May 28, 2013
Zingano, who is undefeated in MMA, injured her right knee during a workout on May 16 according to Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole.
“I was doing my regular routine, my strength and conditioning,” Zingano told Yahoo! Sports. “I was jumping over tunnels that were about 12 inches high. I’d jumped over them like 10 times already. This one time, I jumped up and my left knee came down right on track and my right knee bent outward.
“Snap, crackle, pop, and I hit the floor. That was all she wrote. It was terrible. It hurt bad, but the thing that bothered me most was the sound. I never experienced anything like that.”
Well… Just got off surgery. Thx @danawhite and @ufc for all ur support thru all of this. twitter.com/CatZingano/sta…
— Alpha Cat Zingano (@CatZingano) May 29, 2013
Iole also states the news came as a surprise to Rousey, who was stunned and initially angry because she thought Tate was replacing her, but she was ultimately pleased with the outcome.
“This is what we really wanted all along,” Rousey told Yahoo! Sports. “Everyone said an Ultimate Fighter between me and Miesha would be the best. We have a personal history with each other and this is a personal show. For some reason, me and Miesha are intertwined in fate like Ali and Frazier or something like that.
“I think people will look back at this as one of the monumental rivalries and look back at this as one of those things that really cemented women’s MMA.”
Zingano will lose the opportunity to fight Rousey for the belt but said White promised her the first shot at the Tate-Rousey winner.