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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Strikeforce Women's Champion Marloes Coenen finds herself with a new opponent just a week out from her first title defense with Meisha Tate suffering a knee injury, but she still looks forward to a meeting with Tate down the line.
In an interview with MMAJunkie.com, Coenen expressed some disapproval for the way Tate has marketed herself thus far in the sport.
"It would have been a very good fight... because she's presenting herself as being a cute girl... and I present myself a different way," Coenen said. "Let's put it like that... I'm a professional, so I'm not going to hate somebody for how they present themselves and want to beat them up more.
"But I do believe that we as women are the pioneers of the sport, and what we do will set the blueprint for the next generation. I believe we have to present ourselves as worthy and honorable women. How you do that is up to you, but I do it differently than Miesha does."
For now, however, Coenen turns her attention to Liz Carmouche, and despite the last minute nature of this fight, Coenen's fine in taking the fight, and expects a good stylistic matchup.
"It wasn't disappointing because I know I will get a shot at [Tate] again," Coenen said. "And Liz is very talented. I like it. She's a good opponent, and her standup is even better than Miesha's. Props to her."
"MMA is a sport, and it always stays MMA. So I feel well-rounded in all the areas of the game. Liz is a little different of a fighter than Miesha is. I believe Liz is very talented, and she will be a big star in the coming years."
Coenen and Carmouche meet in the co-main event of next weekend's Strikeforce event from the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
Penick's Analysis: It's going to be a conflict for a lot of women fighters trying to make names for themselves in a male dominated sport to market themselves in certain ways. Fighters like Gina Carano and Meisha Tate have taken the road of being somewhat sex symbols, while others like Coenen have and Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos have simply let their performances speak for themselves. Still, that's not to say there is anything wrong with Carano or Tate taking that route for themselves, but Coenen's reaction to that type of hype isn't surprising either.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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