One of women’s MMA’s most well-known pioneers is coming back to the cage.
Marloes Coenen makes her return when she meets Arlene Blencowe at Bellator 141 on Aug. 28 at Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, Calif., a Bellator official confirmed with MMAFighting.com on Friday night. Combat Press was the first to report the story.
Coenen (22-6), a pro since 2000, has not fought since she defeated Annalisa Bucci at Bellator 130 last October. Before that, the Holland native fell to Cris Cyborg at Invicta FC 6 in July 2013. Overall, Coenen has won two of her last three fights. The 34-year-old former Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion owns wins over the likes of Sarah Kaufman, Liz Carmouche and Roxanne Modaferri.
Blencowe (6-4) has won four straight, including a first-round TKO of Adrienna Jenkins at Bellator 137 in May. The Australia native has only been a pro MMA fighter for two years. Blencowe, 32, owns a win over top Invicta FC women’s featherweight Faith Van Duin.
Bellator 141 will be headlined by a lightweight showcase fight between UFC veteran Melvin Guillard and Brandon Girtz. In the co-main event, Patricky Freire meets Saad Awad in another lightweight contest.