Marloes "Rumina" Coenen (19-4-0) successfully defended her Strikeforce Women's 135 title against Liz "Girl-Rilla" Carmouche (5-1-0) at Strikeforce - Feijao vs. Henderson on Saturday night (March 5, 2011) at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
You may recall that the match was supposed to be Miesha Tate, but Miesha had to pull out due to a knee injury incurred during training.
So with just two weeks notice, Liz stepped up to take on Marloes.
Liz was the underdog going in, and wasn't really supposed to be much of a threat.
But Liz took it to Marloes with takedowns and spent a lot of time in control.
Marloes managed to lock on a triangle choke and secure a submission at 1:29 in the fourth round.
I think Liz really proved herself despite the loss.
This was Liz's first loss after a string of five wins and to lose to Marloes is no disgrace.
And Marloes showed us that she has the ability to come back and win.
By the way, Marloes was very gracious after the fight, say that "Liz is very, very talented, and she will be a champion someday,".
Of course the champ's bruised and battered face was also a testament to Liz's ability.
Marloes Coenen, Liz Carmouche, the last 47 minutes of the fight...
Strikeforce pretty much says that Miesha Tate will be next up for Marloes.
And since there was some question of the legitimacy of Miesha's injury, the match up could be very interesting.
After the injury, Miesha said that in four to six weeks, with everything going right, she should be able to return to the cage.
Strikeforce has three events ShoMMA 15: Wilcox vs. Damm (April 1, 2011), Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley (April 9, 2011) and Overeem vs. Werdum (June 18, 2011) scheduled in that time frame, so hopefully the match-up will happen soon.
