Miesha “Takedown” Tate added yet another title belt to her collection tonight with a fourth-round submission of Marloes “Rumina” Coenen at Strikeforce: “Fedor vs Henderson” in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. The win earned Tate the newly-renamed Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Championship.
Tate used takedowns and controlled on the ground during the first half of the bout, and fought through a tough second round that saw Coenen take her back and try for submissions. After taking Coenen down in round four, Tate secured the choke for the win and set up a rematch with Sarah Kaufman.
Tate (12-2-0), who previously captured pro titles in both Freestyle Cage Fighting and CageSport MMA and won last year’s Strikeforce Women’s Tournament Championship, was unable to do much damage with strikes on the feet or on the ground in the opening 15 minutes, but her takedowns were enough to keep Coenen (19-5-0) on the defensive in rounds one and three.
To her credit, Coenen was dominant in the second stanza and had Tate in danger after taking her back and working for rear-naked chokes, but Tate defended well and weathered the storm until the bell. Following a razor-thin third round, Tate appeared to be tired as the bout headed into the championship rounds, but she persevered and put Coenen on her back against the cage. Passing to side control, Tate locked on an arm-triangle choke and a dejected Coenen was forced to submit.
Full play-by-play for all of the fights on tonight’s Strikeforce card is available here.
Winner: Miesha Tate by Submission (Arm-Triangle Choke) at 3:03 of round four. She improves to 12-2-0 and becomes the new Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Champion.
Having now picked up her biggest victory to date, and becoming the first woman to ever submit Coenen in the process, Tate now looks to be on a collision course with former champion Sarah Kaufman, who defeated Tate in 2009. The pair engaged in a back-and-forth battle at Strikeforce Challengers 1 under three-minute rounds, and Kaufman emerged with a close but well-earned Unanimous Decision. The two are expected to face off for a second time at a future date to be determined.
(Photo Credit: Sherdog.com)
Miesha won, but she didn’t impress anyone, and I am not convinced of her skills as a champion. Miesha’s game plan was lay’n’pray.
Marloes is the superior fighter, but her wrestling is a BIG hole in her game.
I gave rounds 1 and 2 to Marloes. Miesha nearly tapped twice there… her hand was trembling and ready to tap twice, when Marloes had her in that choke position.
Round 3 was iffy: Marloes landed virtually all strikes and caused damage, but Miesha scored with takedowns and dominated the round, but didn’t do ANYTHING while on top.
I am sad to see Marloes lose. But, if she doesn’t start training wrestling massively, people like Shayna Baszler, Miesha Tate, Sara McMann, Liz Carmouche etc. always will be a problem for her.
Mark my words: Sarah Kaufman will score a tko and will take that belt again.
Wow, never thought Tate would’ve subbed Coenen.
Props to her.
Sarah matches up well with Tate.
Sarah vs Tate 2 will play out the same as the first, but since it’ll be a 5 round fight, Sarah GnP’s her way to a win.
Would be nice to see Sarah KO Tate standing, but won’t happen because Tate will be shooting all night.