Champ Comes Back: Marloes Coenen Submits Liz Carmouche

While MMA, or Mixed Martial Arts, is mostly associated with men fighting in a cage, there are also women who participate in the sport. This past weekend, One of the biggest MMA organiztions, Strikeforce, held an event with their 135 lb. Womens Champion, Marloes Coenen making her first defense of her title against contender Liz Carmouche as the co main event of the card.

Going into the fight, Carmouche was a huge underdog who had never competed on a Strikeforce event. But as the fight began, it was clear that Carmouche belonged in the same cage as the champion. Using her superior striking skills, she dominated Coenen for 3 of the 5 championship rounds and even scored some knockdowns as well as a veracious ground and pound assault. As the forth round began, Coenen realized she only had 2 rounds to pull of the win she could kiss her championship goodbye. When Carmouche had her on the canvas in the 4th round. Coenen locked up a miraculous Triangle Choke, a fairly tough submission to perform, forcing Carmouche to tap out, giving Coenan the win and her belt.

I thought this event was significant to our topic because a sport such a Mixed Martial Arts is labeled as dangerous and barbaric and while most promotions do not have a women's division, Strikeforce understands that women want to compete as well and the promotion even looks at the division in the same light as the men. This is evident by Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker putting them in the co main event position, higher positions then former men's champions and contenders that were also on the card.

Although she was beaten for the majority of the contest, Coenen walked away at the champion and gained the respect of fans and journalists alike. Carmouche also walked away stronger, as she is now viewed as a tough contender after proving herself on such a high level of competition.

http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/03/05/champ-comes-back-marloes-coenen-submits-liz-carmouche/

Michael J. Trimarco
Kin 338I Women In Sport 4779