Here's the match video from Miesha Tate vs Marloes Coenen from last night's Strikeforce show in Chicago. Unless you've been living under a rock, you already know that Miesha won the 135lb title. So I'm going to concentrate on analyzing the fight. The only thing that surprised me about the fight was that Marloes didn't try to keep it standing. But I guess Marloes is so comfortable on her back that I guess she didn't think Miesha's takedowns were a big deal. In the first round, Marloes got Miesha in a guillotine choke when Miesha took her down. I didn't think she was going to get a submission from that. Maybe she should have transitioned to something else. Miesha got on top but didn't do much. Was it lay and pray? Knowing Marloes' rep, I think Miesha was just being cautious. Ref Big John McCarthy warned Miesha twice but didn't stand them up. So Marloes wasn't in any danger but the position looks bad so Miesha won the round 10-9. One of the judges scored round one 10-9 Marloes. So he obviously penalized Miesha for failing to advance her position. When Miesha took Marloes down in round two, Marloes did a great transition to take her back. Marloes had Miesha in a body scissors but was unable to get a rear naked choke though she did pound her for most of the round. I know judges don't like to do this but I scored it 10-8 Marloes. For the most part, round three was a repeat of round one except McCarthy did stand them up at one point. Miesha won the round 10-9. I thought Marloes should have tried to keep that round on the feet. The second round should have made Miesha ripe for the picking. Marloes did not take advantage of that. So Marloes is losing on the scorecards. Round four can't be like round three. But Miesha stuck to her game plan and took her down. The key point in the fight was when Marloes was unable to use her feet to launch herself from the cage for a reversal. And then for the first time in the match, Miesha tried to advance her position by switching to the other side and apply an arm triangle choke. She used her knee on Marloes' body to stretch her out for the tap. It was a very slick move but obviously it surprised Marloes as Miesha hadn't tried anything previously. Congratulatons to Miesha for winning the title. She did great. But the champ always has a target on her back. But considering that Miesha's next opponent is Sarah Kaufman, that target will be Miesha's nose. It should be pretty good. According to some in the media, this fight was supposed to determine if Zuffa would keep women fighters long term. I don't buy that and I don't think a decision will be made until next year. As I have said all along, if Zuffa gets rid of women's MMA, someone else will use it to become competition for them. Keeping them is good business. The crowd reaction after Miesha won was great and women fighters have always done good ratings. I'm also seeing this stuff about Miesha as the new face of women's MMA. She knows how to market herself and like it or not, sex appeal is always going to be a part of this business. I'm not interested in those labels. So if you haven't seen it or you want to watch it again, enjoy the fight.
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