On Monday Strikeforce officials made an upcoming bout between women’s welterweight champion Marloes Coenen (18-4) and Miesha Tate (11-2) official for the promotions upcoming March event in Columbus.
The bout is expected to co-headline the Strikeforce: Columbus show which will be headlined by a Strikeforce light heavyweight title bout between champion Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante and Dan Henderson. The event will happen on March 5th at the Nationwide Arena with the main card airing on Showtime.
This will be Coenen’s first title defense after winning the belt from Sarah Kaufman in October at the Strikeforce: San Jose event. The Dutch fighter earned a submission in the third round to earn her first Strikeforce title after back-to-back title fights. Previously she faced Strikeforce women’s middleweight champ Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos a year ago in Miami, losing by TKO in the third round. Coenen currently holds a 1-2 record with the Strikeforce promotion.
Tate has won five in a row, including the last ten of eleven fights, and last competed in August as part of Strikeforce’s Women’s 135 lbs tournament. She would earn two unanimous decisions at the tournament against Hitomi Akano and Maiju Kujala to win the one night contest. Tate is currently 4-1 with Strikeforce since winning her debut with the promotion back in June 2008.