Play fighting goes to far,,,,

Hi, I will try and keep this short if I can, Cozmo likes to play fight with Misty and sometimes Angel. He takes a non aggressive stance, I mean he lays on his back or side. It goes good for a while then Misty will start to get down right mean, biting his ears very hard and won't let go and things like that. He defends himself to a point and he then just runs off before it gets to wild.

Cozmo is not a wimp, I have seen him get pushed to far by Angel and he got upset and beat the crap out of her till I broke it up. I think Cozmo just wants to play but for some reason Misty and Angel end up going to far and Cozmo runs off before they get hurt.

My question is why does it always get to this point? Are Angel and Misty trying to prove they are stronger than Cozmo? Alpha cat kind of thing?

I think both Misty and Angel are 4 to 5 years old, Cozmo must be about 2 1/2 now. Angel has aways been grumpy but Misty is so nice and prissy and gentle most of the time, but when I play with her she gets mean with me also.

She probably don't think she is being mean to me but she plays pretty rough.

I forgot to say the fighting always starts off with them grooming each other then wrestling then Misty getting to rough.

The reason I got Misty was where she was living before there was a big male cat that was not friendly to her so her last owner asked me if I could take her to see how she would do here. She hated to give her up but she felt it would be best for Misty. I am thinking as I write this that maybe she gets like this because of the big male cat she used to live with?

It took Misty almost a year before she will let me rub her belly or trust me enough to let me pick her up and carry her around.

Also Misty could go outside where she used to live so maybe that has something to do with how she acts? She has never wanted to or tried to go outside since she has been here so I assume she is happy to be here.

That could be why she is like that.
She could be used to playing rough.
My new kitten plays very rough and Meeko my 8.5 year old gets mad.
Meeko is a grumpy cat also.
Maybe the big cat let her play rough.