Strikeforce 135 pound champion Miesha Tate (left) and undefeated challenger and Olympic Judo medalist Ronda Rousey (right) face off at the final press conference before their main event showdown on Saturday. Photo credit: Esther Lin/Strikeforce

By FCF Staff

A war of words between Miesha Tate (12-2) and Ronda Rousey (4-0) made for a tense room at the final press conference at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, before Saturday night’s STRIKEFORCE Women’s Bantamweight (135 pounds) Championship, live on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast), from Nationwide Arena.

Tate of Yakima, Wash., will make the first defense of her title since shocking the MMA world and tapping out submission expert Marloes Coenen last July. The aggressive wrestling expert may face her toughest opponent to date in Rousey of Venice, Calif., the 2008 U.S. Olympic Bronze Medalist in Women’s Judo.

In the co-feature, former STRIKEFORCE Lightweight Champion Josh Thomson (18-4, 1 NC), of San Jose, Calif., will face the hard-hitting KJ Noons (10-3), of San Diego, Calif.

The four-bout preliminary card will air live n Showtiime Extreme, beginning at 8 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast) five-fight main card on SHOWTIME.

Here’s what the fighters had to say on Thursday:

MIESHA TATE:

“I don’t care for Ronda’s personality. I’ve fought people I haven’t liked before but not to this extent. But I’m careful not to be overzealous and let tempers change my game plan.

“I don’t really care what the odds are. Betting odds are just opinions. I’d love to see the statistics on how often they’re right. I’ll let the fight talk for itself.

“Ronda and I are feminine women and when you add on the fact that we’re fighters, it makes for an intriguing package. For whatever reason, we’re gaining viewers and it’s our job to perform Saturday. We want people to walk away from the fight with a positive outlook because of the way we fought and not if we’re gorgeous or not.

“Ronda is a self-righteous person. She cares more about herself than the sport. She talked her way into a title fight. Clearly, she doesn’t deserve it. She’s not the No. 1 contender. She hasn’t even fought at this weight before. I mean, she’s 4-0 and has been moderately impressive but she hasn’t faced anyone like me.”

RONDA ROUSEY:

“The less everyone knows about my game, the better for me. There is very little footage on me. People can’t study my full arsenal.

“Miesha will probably try to keep me on my feet because there’s not much tape of me doing that so people think it’s a weakness. But everyone else I’ve fought has tried to do keep me on my feet and that didn’t go very well for them.

“I wasn’t looking to make friends in this sport. I just wanted to make a living so I didn’t have to catch coins. But it doesn’t matter if people don’t like me because it’s mostly current or former champs who think everyone should throw petals at their feet. Honestly, I don’t care if a bunch of girls I don’t know don’t like me. I’m doing this to support myself and not work night shifts at the gym.

“I don’t have respect for Miesha’s inconsistency. One minute it’s about the sport, the next she is wearing booty shorts on her website and it’s the entertainment business.”

JOSH THOMSON:

“I’m going to get the best KJ Noons anyone has ever seen. He has improved his kickboxing and other parts of his game. No one else has fought the KJ I’ll be fighting on Saturday. It’s a huge matchup. If I win, I should get a title shot.

“Am I worried about cage rust? I’ve been through this before. You saw I was in good shape after 15 months off against Melendez. The problem isn’t conditioning, it’s technique. So I’ve trained pretty hard with that in mind.”

Josh Thomson (left) faces off with K.J. Noons in Saturday's Strikeforce co-main event.

KJ NOONS:

“I’m not worried about being in the Fight of the Night because I KNOW it will be. All of my fights are Fight of the Night.

“I’ve changed my fight game. I used to just want to get out there and see who the toughest man was. But other guys would try to take me down, lean on me and put rounds in the bank. So I’ve adjusted all parts of my game – knees, kicks, ground, everything – because I want to win and not just show I’m tough. I can do both.”