Strikeforce Women’s Welterweight Tournament winner Miesha “Takedown” Tate (11-2) had been scheduled to meet women’s 135 pound champ Marloes Coenen last month in Columbus, Ohio, but a knee injury at the last minute forced her out of the fight.
Now, in a recent interview with Strikeforce.com, Tate says she’ll be ready to fight by the end of May, and as far as she knows she’s still the #1 contender for the Women’s Welterweight title.
It’s unlikely that we’d see a Coenen vs. Tate bout slotted for Strikeforce’s Dallas event, but July’s Fedor vs. Henderson event, if that ends up being the event title, would be a great event to feature a women’s title match.
“It’s April now, and I think by the end of May that I could be ready. Reasonably, with a six-week training camp now, I could be ready by the end of May. As far as the injury itself, I’m completely done with therapy on my knee. This is my third week of normal training, and other than being stiff and sore, I think my knee is fine … ”
“As far as I know, that’s what the plan is. I’m still the number-one contender. Due to the injury, I lost the shot at that time. But I didn’t lose all the work I put in to get that number-one slot, and STRIKEFORCE has done a great job of working with me through that. So I don’t see any reason I wouldn’t be fighting for the title next … ”
“Honestly, I think that once I get that takedown that it’s going to be my playing field entirely. Whether it be a TKO or a submission victory, that’s how I see the fight ending. I feel it’ll be in the first round, but I’ll be prepared to go all five [rounds].”