Strikeforce Womens Welterweight Championship bout: Marloes Coenen vs. Miesha Tate
Odds: (-125 Coenen /-105 Tate )
Betting Pick: Coenen
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In the semi-main event, newly crowned Women’sWelterweight Champion Marloes “Rumina” Coenen will defend her title against tough contender Miesha “Takedown” Tate. Tate is tough, well-rounded, and experienced, but Coenen is one of the most accomplished female grapplers in the sport, so Tate is going to need to do everything she can to keep herself standing in this fight. If Tate wants to go home with the gold, she is going to need to execute a flawless gameplan and outstrike Coenen handily.
Miesha Tate is an extremely well-rounded fighter with solid striking, decent power, good submissions, and effective wrestling. The only question mark about Tate is how well she will handle a step up in the level of competition. The only real premier fighter she has ever faced was Sarah Kaufman, who handed her the only loss of her professional career. Still, she has the tools to succeed at the highest level, and is probably a superior striker to Coenen both in terms of technique and punching power. She is definitely less effective than Coenen on the ground, though, and so she is going to have to use her wrestling defensively in order to keep this fight standing if she wants a chance at victory.
Marloes “Rumina” Coenen is one of the most prolific female grapplers in the sport. After suffering a brutal defeat to Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos, she moved down in weight and has had a lot of success so far. Her striking is decent, but not particularly powerful. She relies very heavily on her takedowns and submission game, which are both top-notch. At her new weight, not giving up a size advantage, she is even more effective at grounding her opponents and working her submission game. Against Tate she will be outgunned on the feet probably, but will enjoy a sizable advantage in the ground game, so expect her to look for takedowns early and often and try to catch Tate with a submission.
I think this is going to be a tough fight for Tate to win. Coenen is a vastly superior grappler and has fought a higher level of competition, and I don’t think Tate has a way to stop “Rumina” from taking her down pretty much at will. Once this fight hits the ground it will pretty much be academic, as Coenen is on a whole different level in the grappling game. Tate will put up a fight, but Coenen will be able to take her down and will eventually catch her in a submission for a successful title defense.
Prediction: Marloes Coenen via third round armbar.
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