Miesha Tate Wins Strikeforce Women’s Welterweight Tournament
Miesha “Takedown” Tate won the womens tournament final and an opportunity to earn championship gold with a three-round unanimous decision victory over Hitomi “Girlfight Monster” Akano (16-8) at the Strikeforce Challengers 10 show in Phoenix.
The four-woman single elimination welterweight (135 pound) tournament took place throughout the course of the evening’s fight card and was comprised of four top female contenders, Miesha “Takedown” Tate, Carina “Beauty But The Beast” Damm, Hitomi “Girlfight Monster” Akano and Maiju Kujala.
Since the contestants faced the possibility of fighting twice in one night, Strikeforce used two rounds lasting three minutes each during the early matches, instead of the MMA standard of three 5-minute rounds. The final had three rounds with each round also lasting three minutes .
To earn her place in the final, Tate won a decision over Maiju Kujala (4-2) in her semifinal fight. After a close first round, Tate landed multiple solid strikes in the second round and sealed the win by living up to her nickname with the late takedown that ensured her the decision victory.
Akano reached the finals with a submission of Carina Damm (15-4) in the second round of her semifinal bout. Damm spent much of the first round and part of the second on the ground in top position, but Akano’s persistent submission attempts finally paid off and allowed her to prevail as she locked up a triangle with an armbar, forcing Damm to tapout.
In the first round of the final, Akano had an opportunity with a solid toehold, but Tate grabbed Akano’s arm, stopping her from fully twisting the ankle and Tate was able to eventually break free from the hold and escape the painful submission attempt. Tate, then proceeded to earn the decision victory, she was able to control Akano on the ground, take Akano’s back during both rounds and forced her to defend against a armlock attempt during the closing moments of the bout.
Once Tate was declared the winner she commented on her performance,
“My submission defense is definitely one of my strong points,” Tate said. “I felt really confident coming out against her. She was the one I wanted to fight the most out of the tournament. … Beating her was definitely monumental in my career.”
Tate’s win in the four-woman tournament earned her a shot at the womens 135lb title but she will have to wait for the outcome of Sarah Kaufman (11-0 MMA, 3-0 SF) vs 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 the current 135lb champion, Sarah Kaufman. The exact date has yet to be set for Kaufman vs Coenen.
Tate previously faced Kaufman and lost by decision in a May 2009 Strikeforce match, since that loss Tate has won five consecutive fights and could end up with the opportunity to earn redemption against the last person to defeat her if Kaufman successfully defends the belt against Coenen. [tubepress mode="playlist" playlistValue="C1EE21DC88712B61" resultsPerPage="3" thumbHeight="75" thumbWidth="125"]
Miesha Tate made a card-high $18,000 for her performance, “Takedown” received $8,000 for her win in the women’s welterweight tournament’s opening round, as well as an additional $10,000 for both making it to and winning the tournament.
In the main event, Joe “Diesel” Riggs (33-11, 1 no contest) defeated Louis Taylor (6-2). During the third round, Riggs caught Taylor with a heavy right hand, took him to the mat, obtained the crucifix position and started landing heavy shots until Taylor was forced to tap.
After the fight, Riggs called out 170-pound champion Nick Diaz, who previously lost a decision to Riggs at UFC 57, back in February 2006 that led to a post fight incident . After the fight, the two were taken to the hospital for observation and post-fight tests. It was there that Diaz confronted Riggs and proceeded to punch him in the face. Diaz then tackled Riggs into a wall and began kneeing him, the police arrived and separated them. No charges were ever filed by the police. So, I would say there is some bad blood between the two.
Also, Ryan Couture son of Hall of Famer Randy”The Natural” Couture, won his professional debut against Lucas Stark (2-5) via triangle choke during the opening minutes of the first round. I am sure dad must have been proud.
