Miesha Tate vs. Marloes Coenen added to March event
Strikeforce will look to continue their recent run of rock-solid shows on March 5 in Columbus, Ohio with an event now set to feature a pair of championship clashes in addition to two World Grand Prix quarterfinal bouts. Already linked to a light heavyweight tilt between title-holder Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante and iconic UFC/PRIDE veteran Dan Henderson, the show will also apparently involve 135-pound female champ Marloes Coenen’s initial defense of her belt against Miesha Tate.
News of the fight came via Tate’s Twitter page where in January the 11-2 grappler stated she was set to begin training camp while targeting the now-official date.
The 24-year old “Takedown” earned the opportunity to face Coenen with back-to-back wins over Maiju Kujala and Hitomi Akano during a single-night tournament this past August. Tate also holds a 2010 submission victory over Bellator 115-pound champ Zoila Frausto.
Coenen is 18-4 in her career with thirteen wins by way of tap-out including an Armbar of then-champion Sarah Kaufman in October at “Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Noons 2”. She is 2-1 in Strikeforce with a submission win over Roxanne Modafferi and TKO loss to Cris “Cyborg” Santos almost exactly a year ago.
In addition to the two title-fights, the Ohio offering is also set for heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem’s long-awaited scrap with Fabricio Werdum as well as heavy-handed Brett Rogers taking on controversial, but highly talented, Josh Barnett, on the other side of the Strikeforce World Grand Prix bracket.
PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE






Kennedy/ Miller is supposedly off the card…can’t wait for Overeem / Werdum.
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Man am I excited for this fight. Tate should be able to dictate where this fight goes, but on the ground Marleos is very good, and striking Marleos is very good. Tate has Great submission defense as we saw in her fight with Akano, and her striking is getting better every fight along with a very solid chin. Marleos has only 1 weakness here and it is her wrestling so I see this as a even money fight, and a treat for all of the fans.
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People wil stil bitch about this card. Why? because it doest have any UfC fighers in it?.
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The picture on the main 5oz page for this is all you should need to get excited about this card. Helllloooo Lovely…
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hmm one thing to say.. tate is a very good looking fighter lol.
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Note to DW:
SEX SELLS! LOL.
I think as the talent pool becomes deeper and deeper in the ladies divisions he will have no choice but to provide a platform for the ladies to get it on in the UFC.
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Whats wrong with all the ladies fighting in SF?. Would it be better if womens MMA was divided too?.
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Currently not “All the ladies” fight in SF anyway…
Hot chicks who can draw viewership and bank need to be thrown into the marketing machine not put on a shelf…
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Currently not “All the ladies” fight in SF anyway
No your right so lets divide them even more. Great idea.
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LP divided or not there is ALOT of female talent out there on the shelf or fighting in the smallest of regional shows because there just isn’t a big enough platform for them… SF has the biggest stage for females in the US at the moment and they aren’t exactly grooming anybody to really carry the divisions into the next phase instead they are worried about when Gina Carano is coming back?
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