Strikeforce preview: Marloes Coenen-Sarah Kaufman
On many cards, Strikeforce, the second largest mixed martial arts promoter in the U.S, tries to feature at least one women’s bout, situating them as the go-to MMA promotion for fans of female fighting.
This Saturday on the Diaz-Noons II card, Sarah Kaufman is coming in to defend her women’s welterweight (135lb) title against Marloes Coenen.
Background
Kaufman’s relationship with Strikeforce has been somewhat rocky, as she’s been critical of the promotion for not having placed her on one of their main cards, instead relegating her to the Strikeforce
Challengers cards, which generally feature their lower-profile fighters.
She’s gotten her wish and is appearing on the televised portion of one of their biggest and most exciting cards on Saturday but that hasn’t stopped her criticism. She’s questioned whether it’s wise of
Strikeforce to give Coenen a crack at her women’s welterweight title when Coenen usually fights at the 145lb weight class, and after Coenen lost her last fight.
Kaufman’s form
Kaufman silenced many of her detractors in her last fight by finishing her opponent Roxanne Modafferi in the third round with a huge slam that knocked Modafferi unconscious. The slam made the highlight
reel of many sports networks and gave credence to Kaufman’s demand to be on bigger cards.
That win boosted the 25-year-old Canadian to 11-0 in her mixed martial arts career and has helped solidify her as the number two pound-for-pound female fighter in the world. She’s defended her title successfully
three times now, using very good boxing to batter her opponents, as well as simple brute strength, which she displayed in her highlight-reel slam.
She’ll be looking for another strong performance to help rise her star and keep her on the main cards.
Coenen’s form
In her most recent fight, Coenen had the most unenviable task of any female fighter in the word: fighting the Brazilian juggernaut Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos. Coenen did about as well as any other of Santos’s
opponents tend to do – which is to say not terribly well. She did show great heart in sticking around until the third round, but succumbed to Santos’s punches early in that round. That fight took place in January, but the Dutchwoman hasn’t fought since then.
At 17-4 she’ll come into the cage with more experience than Kaufman, and the 29-year-old is a few years older too. She has a very good submission grappling style and competent stand up. Her desire will
be to take this fight to the ground and try to submit Kaufman, which will be no easy task, but hopefully for Coenen the drop from 145lb to 135lb will provide her with a size advantage she can use to drag Kaufman to the mat.
Betting odds
Based on her unbeaten record and dominance in the division, bookmakers have Kaufman as roughly a 4/11 favourite going into this fight, whereas Coenen is around a 5/2 underdog.
There are many unpredictable factors in this one, most notably how well Coenen will handle the weight cut, but a small bet on Kaufman defending her title seems the wise money here.
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