The four women fighting this week in Strikeforce's tournament are just the tip of the iceberg in the 135-pound division, as far as Miesha Tate is concerned.
"I think we have at least 200 solid fighters," says Tate, No. 10 among 135-pounders in the Unified Women's MMA Rankings. "That may not be a lot, but it's definitely enough to have a really solid, competitive division, especially as more of them are coming."
Tate has a chance to keep herself ahead of the wave for the moment. She's part of a one-night tournament scheduled Friday for Strikeforce Challengers (11 p.m. ET, Showtime) in Phoenix, with the winner guaranteed a shot at the 135-pound title.
Joining Tate will be No. 6 Hitomi Akano, Finnish fighter Maiju Kujala and No. 2-ranked 125-pounder Carina Damm, who is moving up in weight for the event.
Fighting Stances spoke to Tate last week about the tournament and women's fighting in general. Excerpts from the conversation:
Q: What did you think when you first heard that Strikeforce was doing a tournament?
Tate: I was like, "Are those still legal?" That was my first reaction, because I know a lot of states have outlawed them, and they're like, "It is (legal) in Arizona." And I was like, "OK, well, cool. Can I be in it?"
I told them all along, if they had planned on doing something like that, I definitely wanted to be a part of it.
Carina Damm hasn't fought in the U.S. since she tested positive for steroids in 2008. What was your reaction when you heard she was included?
I really didn't see it coming at all. I was like, "Really? Carina Damm? Doesn't she fight at 125?" I guess she's made the jump to 135. As long as she tests clean this time, I'm OK with it.
How familiar are you with Maiju Kujala?
I watched a couple of her fights. She seems really strong, a very strong girl. She seems to like to punch into the clinch and try (for a) takedown, but she doesn't have very good positioning on the ground. Her striking seems to be (used) just to try get it to the ground.
No comments:
Post a Comment