Contrary to a report earlier this week on Sherdog.com, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker has confirmed with MMARising.com that his promotion still intends to hold a random draw for their upcoming 135-pound women’s tournament. First-round matchups have not been decided.

The report claimed that the promotion had confirmed both of the first-round matchups, but Coker maintains that that is false. A random drawing, as first exclusively reported on this website, is still planned for the night of the weigh-ins to determine opening-round fights in the tournament.

Sources confirmed with MMARising.com on July 10th that the random draw format would be utilised, pending approval from the Arizona State Boxing Commission, with the drawing to be held on August 12th. As first reported here, the four-woman, one-night tournament will feature Miesha “Takedown” Tate, Hitomi “Girlfight Monster” Akano, Carina “Beauty But The Beast” Damm and Maiju Kujala. It will take place at Strikeforce Challengers 10 on August 13th at the Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona. The winner will earn a shot at the Strikeforce Women’s Welterweight (135-Pound) Championship.

Coker had no knowledge of which Strikeforce representative, if any, had been the source of the erroneous report, but maintained that plans had not changed as of now and that no matchups would be put together prior to the drawing. A reserve bout, set to take place on the unaired undercard, will be finalised in the coming days; either before or just after the upcoming Strikeforce Challengers 9 event this Friday. Should a tournament finalist suffer an injury or be otherwise unable to continue, the winner of the planned reserve bout would take their place in the finals.

MMARising.com will have further details of the tournament as they become available and will be on-site in Everett, Washington for live coverage of Strikeforce Challengers 9. The event features a Strikeforce Women’s Welterweight Championship bout between undefeated champion Sarah Kaufman and number one contender Roxanne Modafferi. Strikeforce Challengers 9 airs live on Showtime and Super Channel at 11:00 P.M. Eastern, 9:00 P.M. Pacific this Friday.

Further update (2:00 A.M. Pacific time): MMARising.com has now learned that the Arizona State Boxing Commission has approved the random draw format and the plans to utilise the draw on August 12th will proceed.

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(Photo Credit: Esther Lin, Strikeforce)