Meisha Tata forced to pull out of fight against Marloes Coenen, Liz Carmouche is the replacement
NEW YORK (Feb. 23, 2011) – Undefeated Liz “Girl-Rilla’’ Carmouche (6-0) has replaced an injured Miesha Tate and will face STRIKEFORCE Women’s World Welterweight Champion Marloes Coenen on Saturday, March 5, at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, live on SHOWTIME® (10 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast).
Tate, the No. 1 contender at 135 pounds, was forced to withdraw after suffering a knee injury during training.
Carmouche, of San Diego, by way of Lafayette, La., will be making her third start for STRIKEFORCE on SHOWTIME. She is coming off an impressive third-round TKO (punches) over the more-experienced, hard-hitting Jan Finney on Nov. 19, 2010.
Carmouche has only gone the distance once in her career. In her debut on SHOWTIME, the 5-foot-5, 27-year-old Carmouche registered a unanimous decision over Colleen Schneider on Aug. 13, 2010, in a “reserve bout” in the STRIKEFORCE one night, single-elimination women’s 135-pound tournament, which was won by Tate.
Speaking via an official press release, Strikeforce revealed that the winner of Strikeforce’s first women’s 135lbs tournament Miesha Tate,will not fight current Women’s Champion, Dutch Golden Glory product Marloes Coenen.
Tate looked very impressive of late, defeating Zoila Frausto with a perfect armbar prior to the tournament. “Takedown” then dispatched with both of her next two opponents, Maiju Kujala and Hitomi Akano on the same night to earn her title shot. Losing just twice in 13 fights, Tate has only been defeated by former Champion Sarah Kauffman and Kaitlin Young.
In what will be her first title defence, Marloes Coenan will now come up against undefeated Liz Carmouche. Making her first appearance on a main Strikeforce card, Courmouche will be in for a baptism of fire against the current Champ. “The Girl-rilla” will look to remain undefeated when she steps up on March the 5th, at Strikeforce: Feijao vs Henderson.
The card will feature a Lightheavyweight title fight between current title holder Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante and former UFC and PRIDE star Dan Henderson. As well as the women’s title fight, Tim Kennedy will fight Melvin Manhoef, and Jorge Masvidal will face off against Billy Evangelista.
