Strikeforce Women’s Welterweight Champion Marloes “Rumina” Coenen will defend her title against 2010 tournament winner Miesha “Takedown” Tate at Strikeforce: “Fedor vs Henderson” on July 30th in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. The matchup, first planned for March 5th, was made official on Saturday.

Tate was forced to withdraw from the bout in March after suffering a knee injury. Coenen went on to face late replacement Liz “Girl-Rilla” Carmouche and rallied back after a shaky start to submit Carmouche with a fourth-round triangle choke. Now fully recovered, Tate will get her shot at the title.

Coenen (19-4-0) has won three of her four fights since debuting for Strikeforce in November 2009. After avenging a loss to Roxanne Modafferi, Coenen challenged unsuccessfully for the Strikeforce Women’s Middleweight Championship. Opting to make a significant change in her career, Coenen dropped down to 135 pounds for the first time and submitted the previously unbeaten Sarah Kaufman to become the Strikeforce Women’s Welterweight Champion on October 9, 2010. The ten-year MMA veteran made the first defence of her title in March against Carmouche, where she was dominated on the ground for much of the fight before securing a fight-ending triangle choke in round four.

Tate (11-2-0) has lost just one time since 2007, in a close and competitive bout with Kaufman two years ago. The native of Washington, who now trains extensively in Sacramento, California, has previously held regional titles for both CageSport MMA and Freestyle Cage Fighting, and captured the Strikeforce Women’s Welterweight Tournament Championship last August. The tournament win guaranteed Tate a title shot and now, having recovered from her late February knee injury, she will step into the biggest fight of her career against Coenen, who will hold a significant edge in experience.

With both fighters excelling in one specific discipline – Coenen best known for her submissions, and Tate a standout wrestler – the July title fight may be contested primarily on the ground. Coenen has demonstrated throughout her career, including in the March bout with Carmouche, that she is extremely dangerous when working off of her back. All three of her Strikeforce wins have come via submission from the bottom. Carmouche showed that Coenen can be controlled on the ground if her guard can be avoided and Tate will look to duplicate the success that Carmouche had through three rounds.

Strikeforce: “Fedor vs Henderson” takes place on July 30th at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. The event is headlined by a heavyweight bout between former PRIDE champions Fedor Emelianenko and Dan “Hendo” Henderson.

(Photo Credit: Sherdog.com)