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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Meisha Tate ended up fighting 15 minutes through two fights on Friday night's Strikeforce: Challengers 10 card from the Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, Ariz., and earned two unanimous decisions to earn perhaps another shot at Sarah Kaufman.
She kicked off the night against Maiju Kujala, and earned a few takedowns in the fight to get the nod from the judges. Kujala tried to put up a fight in the second round, landing some decent strikes, but with only six minutes in which to work she was unable to put anything together.
Tate then met Hitomi Akano in the tournament finals after Akano submitted Carina Damm in their first round matchup with a triangle choke.
The first round saw Akano get the edge by using some good balance to put Tate on her back and then overall staying more active on the ground. She sealed it with a tight footlock attempt, but Tate managed to get out of it.
"Takedown" then took over the next two rounds in what ended up being a highly entertaining grappling match. She took Akano to the ground in both rounds, working from the back and trying to secure her hooks to lock on a choke. Akano was continuously moving and attempting to improve her position, but Tate impressively kept control of the position on the ground and walked away with the unanimous decision and a title shot.
Of course, despite the division's Champion Sarah Kaufman being interviewed cageside throughout the night, it's not a guarantee that Tate will get her rematch, as Kaufman first has to get through Marloes Coenen. But Tate has earned her shot against the winner of that fight, and will take them on likely early in 2011.
Penick's Analysis: This entire tournament was ill-prepared and poorly thought out. The commission changed the structure the week of the fights, turning it into a complete joke with the pointless first fight. Six minutes of total fighting time is ridiculous, and then to just get another nine for the finals doesn't cut it. Doing tournaments isn't worth it if you have to sacrifice the round structure of professional bouts.
And the fact that Tate isn't getting the immediate title shot is another poorly thought out part of this equation. They really shouldn't have announced the Coenen bout, because a Tate-Kaufman rematch was actually set up well last night with Kaufman being interviewed cageside and Tate getting through the field. They made people not paying attention think that's what the next fight is, and it should be.
Instead, because Coenen's dropping down in weight, she's getting the shot despite coming off a loss. The four women that fought did the best they could, and I don't put any of the blame on them because they fought their hardest, but the format was terrible, the reffing was awful and the whole thing just seemed like a waste of time.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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