Marloes Coenen Feeling Pressure To Prove Drawing Power Of Women’s MMA

This coming weekend, Strikeforce Women’s Welterweight (135 lbs) Champion Marloes Coenen (19-4) will defend her title for a second time against wrestler Miesha ‘Takedown’ Tate (11-2).
The women are set to co-headline the July 30, Strikeforce / M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Henderson
event at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
Coenen is certainly feeling the pressure to perform on Saturday, not only to show Zuffa but the entire world, that women’s mixed martial arts has a place on the big shows.
The potential for women to draw fans is there, Strikeforce’s second most viewed event on Showtime was the female 145 lb title bout between fan favorite Gina Carano and Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Santos back in August of 2009.
While Coenen nor Tate, currently enjoy the same popularity of their 145 lb counterparts, they have been given a chance to show fans tuning in to watch Fedor Emelianenko vs. Dan Henderson that women can be just as exciting as the men.
Speaking to LowKick.com, Coenen talked about her upcoming fight with Tate.

“The fact that Zuffa has made us co-mail event, while they didn’t had to do that, is for me a good token. We girls have to prove that we can bring in enough money to be a legit part of the Zuffa family. As it’s not a non-profit organization, money has to be made. With the different characters in the female division, I think we should be able to reach a big, and more diverse audience. We have sexy girls, tomboys, smart girls, classy women, students, girls in different age categories – from different countries. For me personally, I hope I can inspire girls to follow or start MMA the same way Lucia Rijker was a big inspiration for me. If this fight outdraws the main fight again, as with my last fight, it proves to Zuffa that there’s a reason to keep us.”