Marloes “Rumina” Coenen’s next fight will indeed be against Strikeforce Women’s Welterweight (135-Pound) Champion Sarah Kaufman. After a week of uncertainty over Coenen’s immediate future, plans for the October 9th bout were revealed today. Coenen will drop down in weight for the fight.
MMAjunkie.com was first to report on the fight and Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker has since confirmed with MMARising.com that his promotion is indeed targeting October 9th as the date for the title tilt. The fight will also mark Kaufman’s first Strikeforce appearance on a non-Challengers card.
Kaufman (12-0-0) made an emphatic statement in her most recent bout when she knocked out top contender Roxanne Modafferi with a slam late in the third round. The victory, which was Kaufman’s ninth by a form of knockout, marked her first successful Strikeforce title defence. Both before and after the fight, Kaufman commented that she believed that she was ready to graduate from the Challengers Series to the larger Strikeforce cards on Showtime and she will do just that on October 9th. However, she will face a very tough test in Coenen, who has fought at or above 145 pounds throughout her career.
Coenen (17-4-0) made a successful Strikeforce debut last November when she submitted last-minute replacement Modafferi in the first round of their rematch. The victory avenged one of Coenen’s then-three career losses and set up a title bid against Strikeforce Women’s Middleweight (145-Pound) Champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos. Coenen put on a game performance against Santos, but succumbed to strikes in the third round. She has not fought since the January title bout with Santos and lingering questions remain concerning Coenen’s ability to make 135 pounds in a safe manner.
As documented this week on MMARising.com, Coenen had been tentatively scheduled to rematch Cindy “Battlecat” Dandois in Strikeforce this Fall and was also set to compete at Ultimate Glory 12 on October 16th in Amsterdam, Holland. However, as first reported here, both of those fights are now off. Golden Glory trainer Martijn de Jong told MMARising.com this morning that plans were still in place to have Coenen fight on the Glory card. However, with the Strikeforce title bout with Kaufman scheduled for seven days prior, that now seems highly unlikely.
According to the MMAjunkie.com report, a middleweight bout between veteran Matt “The Law” Lindland and top prospect Luke Rockhold is also scheduled to take place on the October 9th card. Strikeforce Welterweight Champion Nick Diaz is also said to be participating, though no opponent has yet been announced. The event takes place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.
(Photo Credit: Esther Lin, Strikeforce)