Former Strikeforce champ and top Invicta FC contender Marloes “Rumina” Coenen is set to make her Bellator featherweight debut on October 24th at Bellator 130 in Mulvane, Kansas. Coenen will face off against Italian rising star Annalisa “No Fear” Bucci in a featured matchup on the card.
TheMMAReport.com first reported on the planned fight on Tuesday. Coenen joined the Bellator roster this summer alongside Julia “The Jewel” Budd and others when Bellator restored a women’s division. Bucci has won six of her past seven fights and she makes her North American debut for Bellator.
Coenen (21-6-0) is one of MMA’s most experienced female fighters and she has been a pioneer for women in the sport since her debut in Japan close to 14 years ago. The former Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Champion moved back up to 145 pounds for her Invicta FC debut on the promotion’s inaugural all-female card in April 2012 and earned a second win over Romy Ruyssen. She returned to Invicta FC in July 2013, but suffered a lopsided stoppage loss to rival Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino in a featherweight title rematch. She now seeks a fresh start in the Bellator cage.
Bucci (7-3-0) enters her Bellator debut as a significant underdog against the much more experienced Coenen, but the Italian fighter has already faced off against skilled opponents in her career. After winning five straight fights including four inside the distance, Bucci took on her toughest test to date in May when she battled current top Cage Warriors contender Pannie “Banzai” Kianzad. Bucci came up short on the scorecards, but she fought again just 20 days later and bounced back with arguably her biggest win to date over Invicta FC signee Maria Hougaard Djursaa.
Bellator 130 takes place on October 24th at Kansas Star Arena in Mulvane, Kansas.
(Photo Credit: Esther Lin, AllElbows.com / InvictaFC.com)
I don’t understand why the UFC did not offer ‘Rumina’ a contract…maybe because she decided not to fight at bantamweight again…that’s my guess.
Hi Mike! Yes, a few years ago Marloes said that when she moved down to bantamweight and won the Strikeforce title (by beating Kaufmann), she said she become weaker with every fight. Of course she barely beat Carmouche in her 1st defense and then lost to Tate. That’s when Marloes decided moved back to 145.
I also recall something about when the UFC bought Strikeforce, they actually deliberately released Marloes and another fighter (whom I can’t remember at the moment) – but the UFC released both of those fighters because the UFC didn’t want to deal with their Management team for some reason. So Marloes moved on to Invicta. And when the UFC bought the rights to Invicta, Marloes moved on to Bellator (along with Julia Budd).
I”m just so happy that Marloes will be fighting again. She’s really great.
You are correct, Andy…I think it was Golden Glory or Golden Boys or something like that. Dana made a statement that he would only work with Marloes directly and not her team.
Yes Mike, I think that’s exactly it. And for some reason I think the other Strikeforce fighter they released was King Mo. Of course Mo was later hit for testing positive, so UFC is probably happy now they didn’t bring him on.
So let’s get ready! Marloes is fighting again two weeks from this Saturday!! See how she does after a fairly long layoff (since losing to Cyborg a 2nd time) against Bucci, whom I’ve never seen fight, but who looks to have a pretty good resume. If Marloes can do well, Bellator’s 145lb women’s division will get of to a very good start. Let’s hope for a good fight at the very least. Women almost always deliver, so I’m not worried!