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Marloes Coenen put up a valiant effort at Strikeforce: Miami on Showtime on Saturday night, but ultimately Champ Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos was too much to handle for yet another opponent.
From the first bell, Cyborg began the aggressive assault. Coenen managed to clinch but eventually wound up on her back, where much of this fight was spent. Cyborg's relentless top game kept Coenen frustrated and on the defensive for much of the fight, though Coenen was able to return to her feet on multiple occasions.
Quite simply, this fight came down to Cyborg's power and aggression vs. Coenen's defense and striking, and her striking was just not powerful enough to affect the Champ. The one clean power overhand right that she landed was shrugged off in the third round by Cyborg, and it didn't take long after that before she was on the ground eating more punches before the ref stopped the fight.
It was a dominating performance from a fighter who has been doing nothing but dominate her opponents on this run to being the first Strikeforce Women's Champion. For Coenen, this fight highlighted the necessity of a drop to the 135 lb. division, as while she's got great skills and put up a good fight, she doesn't have the power or size to take out Cyborg. She could very well be successful in Strikeforce's 135 lb. division, one that will have a Champion come next month's Strikeforce: Challengers event when Sarah Kaufman takes on Takayo Hashi.
For Cyborg, the question now becomes "who's next?" Strikeforce hasn't highlighted very many female fighters to date, so they're now tasked with finding an opponent they can sell against Cyborg, and even more challenging perhaps may be someone that can push Cyborg even harder than Coenen. She's shown herself to be the most dominant Women's fighter at this point, and it will be a tough task for any Challenger to unseat her from her Strikeforce throne.
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