Golden Glory Reps Discuss Strikeforce Sale, Miesha Tate

posted by MMARising.com
Friday, March 18, 2011 at 11:44am EDT

UFC and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event coverage from all over the world, with a focus on covering many of the sport's top female fighters and fight promotions.

Golden Glory Reps Discuss Strikeforce Sale, Miesha Tate On March 5th, Strikeforce Women’s Welterweight Champion and Golden Glory standout Marloes Coenen rallied to submit Liz Carmouche in round four. One week later, she and trainer Martijn de Jong were shocked to learn that Strikeforce had been purchased by UFC parent company Zuffa, LLC.

Like many others, Coenen and de Jong are waiting to see what will come of the acquisition of Strikeforce, and both remain cautiously optimistic about what the future may hold. They share their thoughts on the sale and future plans, as well as the growing rivalry between Coenen and Miesha Tate.

Following the announcement that Strikeforce had been sold, fans, fighters and media alike all began to speculate on the future of women’s MMA and the female divisions in Strikeforce. UFC President Dana White, who previously stated that women would never fight in the UFC, seemed to indicate that nothing would change in that regard, which raised the question as to what would happen to Strikeforce’s female athletes if a Strikeforce/UFC merger were to take place in the future.

As the majority of the MMA community was, both Coenen and de Jong were surprised when they first heard of the sale. “Holy crap, didn’t see that one coming!” de Jong says of his reaction.

Coenen initially felt the same way, but her focus quickly turned to what could be done to further the cause for the future of women’s fights in both Strikeforce and the UFC.

“I think we ladies really have to work hard to change Dana’s mind,” Coenen says. “On the other hand, Dana is a savvy businessman. To him, the females in MMA can be a nice niche market for a potentially big target audience. Now, mostly men are watching MMA, but with the right role models more women will be interested.

“They need to have [women] whom they can relate to,” she continues. “I see it in my own training for girls. Women are so insecure, but once they discover their strength and believe in what they can do, no one can stop them and they become really passionate. I believe that they are the most loyal fans in the game.

Coenen concludes, “I love Strikeforce, [and] the people of the organisation are so kind. Having said that, I am a professional fighter. I will fight anywhere.”

De Jong adds, “I am a big fan of the UFC and like how they promote the fighters. We recently signed Jon Olav Einemo with the UFC and we hope to sign more athletes soon! We never spoke about the possibility of [Golden Glory fighters] fighting in the UFC and kickboxing at the same time [a practice currently permitted under Strikeforce contracts], but I think we should take one step at a time.

“Yes, I am,” de Jong states when asked if he is worried about the future of women’s MMA, “but up until [a potential Strikeforce/UFC merger] I will stay positive as women’s fighting draws a lot of viewers and offers great fights!”

Coenen is coming off of an incredible victory against last-minute replacement opponent Carmouche in a fight that was hailed by critics as one of the best female bouts in MMA history. The enthralling fight saw Coenen, down on the scorecards, rally to submit Carmouche with a triangle choke to retain her title in a fashion some compared to Anderson Silva’s thrilling win over Chael Sonnen in the UFC.

It was the sort of fight that fans of women’s MMA could point to as an example of why women should be allowed to compete alongside the men in the UFC.

Originally training to face Miesha Tate, Coenen had to change focus when Tate suffered a knee injury less than two weeks before the fight. “Of course [the change affected me],” Coenen says, “but we believe that when you are a fighter you always show up. Ramon Dekkers fought Duane Ludwig with a torn muscle in his right arm and still knocked him down…that is an inspiration for me.” She added that training was different, as Carmouche’s striking is better than Tate’s.

Rather than stand and trade with Coenen, however, Carmouche took the fight to the ground in rounds two and three and rained down punches from mount. Though Coenen blocked many of the strikes, it was perhaps a pre-fight conversation between de Jong and the referee that prevented a premature stoppage.

“Martijn told the referee up front that if I defended my head from the guard, he shouldn’t stop [the fight] too soon as long as I defended. [That was] pretty weird because he had never said something like that to a referee before,” Coenen recalls.

“I was a little pissed off, as it didn’t go as we planned,” adds de Jong, who was in Coenen’s corner for the fight. “However, I always stayed confident that her experience would pay off and knew that she was going to win eventually. I knew that Marloes could finish the fight like [the way] she did. Marloes is a very seasoned fighter and always fights for the win by KO or submission. Never to just stay in there…”

Discussion turns to Coenen’s original opponent, Tate, who drew the ire of Golden Glory after comments made before and just after Coenen’s successful title defence.

“My whole issue with Miesha was that she knew that she wasn’t going to fight (as I also knew by that time) and she still kept promoting the fight up until minutes before the annoucement by Strikeforce and Showtime,” says de Jong. “I mean, not letting anybody know anything before the official announcement and promoting [the fight] like crazy on radio shows, Twitter and interviews are two different things.

“Besides that, she said on Twitter that she was back in training again a little less than a week before March 5th and then [she was] calling out Marloes after her win? Despite everything, I really do hope Miesha’s injury will heal soon and that she will be able to fight Marloes soon again.”

Of the war of words and ongoing rivalry, de Jong hopes that it will create added interest in an upcoming fight between Coenen and Tate so that “something positive comes out of this whole situation.”

For Coenen, what transpired was not personal, but Tate remains firmly in her sights.

“I believe Miesha is a nice girl. I have no personal [negative] feelings towards her. As a person, I am not that interested in her, [but] as a fighter, Miesha will get what she deserves…and I will bring it to her.”

While Team Golden Glory remains optimistic about the future of Strikeforce following its sale, de Jong is focused on his own upcoming event on Saturday. The second round of the 2010-2011 United Glory World Grand Prix MMA and kickboxing tournament takes place in Belgium. The event will stream live and will later air on HDNet on April 1st.

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Zuffa buys Strikeforce

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There is 1 comment on this post. Join the discussion!

Cheryl Ragsdale says:

I'm excited about the changes that Zuffa buying Strikeforce will bring. Plans will be adjusted to reflect MMA fan's interest in women's MMA. The UFC is perfectly primed to fund an on-going structure for women to grow and develop their MMA skills. Fighters don't gain the experience they need overnight. I would love to see a reality TV show for women fighters like the popular "The Ultimate Fighter" show for men.

Sunday, March 20, 2011 at 6:28pm EDT

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Golden Glory Reps Discuss Strikeforce Sale, Miesha Tate

Zuffa buys Strikeforce

Miesha Tate

Marloes Coenen

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