Great news in the advancing evolution of womens MMA as Strikeforce continues to promote and provide them with more exposure to the MMA fan. A planned Women’s MMA tournament will take place during Strikeforce Challengers 10 on August 13, 2010.

The Phoenix event, STRIKEFORCE’s first in the state of Arizona, will also feature a four-woman single elimination welterweight (135 pound) tournament. Four women will enter the cage, only one will leave with a shot at the title! Comprised of four top female contenders, Miesha “Takedown” Tate, Carina “Beauty But The Beast” Damm, Hitomi “Girlfight Monster” Akano and Maiju Kujala the tournament will be completed over the course of the evening’s fight card. The draw to determine the semi-final matchups for the two-round tournament will take place at the Official Weigh-In on Thursday, Aug. 12. The winner of the tournament will face the Women’s Welterweight Champion.

The winner of the bracket will receive a future shot at the 135-pound title, but they’ll have to wait on Marloes Coenen (17-4 MMA, 1-1 SF).  Coenen, was defeated in January when she challenged 145-pound champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos for her belt, but she will drop down to a more natural weight of 135 pounds and take on current 135lb champion Sarah Kaufman (11-0 MMA, 3-0 SF) The exact date has yet to be set for Kaufman vs Coenen.

Here is what Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said concerning Coenen,

“Marloes has made the move down to welterweight and she will get the next title fight,”

“She has proven that she belongs in the cage with our champion. So, after the tournament, we’ll have another legitimate contender to challenge for the title.”

For the  tournament on 13 Aug, there will be a random draw to seed the four fighters in the bracket. Also, because the contestants face the possibility of fighting twice in one night, the matches will be set for three rounds of three minutes each instead of the usual five-minute rounds.

The winner of the tournament will become the official No. 2 contender and will wait for a shot at the title  against the winner of Kaufman vs Coenen.

Strikeforce Challengers 10 will be a great night of fights because you know these ladies are going to bring it.

Sarah Kaufman vs Miesha Tate May 15 2009 Part 1

Sarah Kaufman vs Miesha Tate May 15 2009 Part 2

Watch the women in action with “The Breakout” , the first ever all women’s Mixed Martial Arts fight card. Shot live from Minneapolis, MN it features five exciting bouts with some of the industries top rated female MMA fighters. They include #1 ranked Megumi Fujii, the world’s best pound for pound MMA female fighter from Tokyo, Japan – in only her second ever US fight. Others include Adrienna Jenkins, Shayna Baszler, and Ginela Marquez

CLICK HERE AND GET THIS ON AMAZON

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