Strikeforce champion Marloes Coenen
Marloes Coenen isn’t sweating opponent change.
Strikeforce women’s welterweight champion Marloes Coenen was scheduled to defend her title for the first time against Miesha Tate on March 5 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus Ohio, but an injury forced Tate to pull out of the bout.
Undefeated Liz Carmouche stepped up to fight for the title, and Coenen isn’t bothered by the late change of opponent.
“I’m happy to fight on March 5. I was excited to fight Miesha, but I believe Liz is a very good replacement,” said the champion.
“If you are well rounded in all the areas of the game (it won’t be a problem),” added Coenen. “But Liz is a different fighter than Miesha is. I believe Liz is very talented and she’ll be a big star in the coming years. Her standup is okay, her wrestling is okay. I believe her standup is a little better than Miesha’s. It will be a fierce fight but there will be no problems for me. I’m looking forward to it and I’m all pumped up.”
“Her standup is a little better than Miesha’s, but for the most part I train in every aspect of the game and we tweak it for each opponent we’re fighting.”
Coenen won the title by defeating then-champion Sarah Kaufman last October and believes a champion should fight whoever the promotion puts in front of them.
“I believe when you’re the champion you should fight everyone so it doesn’t matter who the person is in front of me – I’ll fight them. Of course I was preparing for Miesha but I think I’ll get another shot at her again.”
Coenen vs. Carmouche is the co-main event of “Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson.” Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante defends his light heavyweight title against Dan Henderson in the main event.
