NEW YORK (Feb. 24, 2011) – STRIKEFORCE Women’s World Welterweight Champion Marloes Coenen, undefeated challenger Liz “Girl-Rilla’’ Carmouche, American military hero and middleweight contender Tim Kennedy and aggressive knockout artist Melvin “No Mercy’’ Manhoef participated in a national media conference call on Thursday to discuss the upcoming STRIKEFORCE World Championship Doubleheader on Saturday, March 5, at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, live on SHOWTIME® (10 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast).
In the opening half of the doubleheader, Marloes Coenen (18-4), of the Netherlands, will risk her lightweight title for a first time when she meets Liz Carmouche (6-0), of San Diego, Calif., a replacement for the injured Miesha Tate.
Coenen captured the STRIKEFORCE crown with a dominant third-round submission (armbar) over defending belt-holder Sarah Kaufman on Oct. 9, 2010, on SHOWTIME. A strikingly attractive submission whiz, Coenen ousted Kaufman one fight after giving STRIKEFORCE 145-pound champ Cris Cyborg one of her toughest tests.
Carmouche is coming off an impressive third-round TKO (punches) over the more-experienced Jan Finney on Nov. 19, 2010. In her outing before last, Carmouche won a unanimous decision over Colleen Schneider on Aug. 13, 2010, in a “reserve bout” in the STRIKEFORCE one night, single-elimination women’s 135-pound tournament.
Tim Kennedy (12-3), of Fort Bragg, N.C., will face Melvin “No Mercy’’ Manhoef (24-8-1), of Holland, at 185 pounds. Kennedy is an American military hero who’s toured the Middle East multiple times and earned the Army’s Bronze Medal Star medal for valor under fire. Manhoef has registered KO or TKO victories in all but one of his 24 victories.
In the main event, Dan Henderson will challenge defending champion Rafael “Feijao’’ Cavalcante for the STRIKEFORCE World Light Heavyweight Championship. Also, Billy Evangelista (11-0) will take on Jorge Masvidal (20-6), of Miami, Fla., at 155 pounds.
What the four fighters had to say on Thursday:
MARLOES COENEN:
“I’m happy to fight on March 5. I was excited to fight Miesha, but I believe Liz is a very good replacement.
“If you are well rounded in all the areas of the game (it won’t be a problem). But Liz is a different fighter than Miesha is. I believe Liz is very talented and she’ll be a big star in the coming years. Her standup is OK, her wrestling is OK. I believe her standup is a little better than Miesha’s. It will be a fierce fight but there will be no problems for me. I’m looking forward to it and I’m all pumped up.
“Her standup is a little better than Miesha’s, but for the most part I train in every aspect of the game and we tweak it for each opponent we’re fighting.
“I believe when you’re the champion you should fight everyone so it doesn’t matter who the person is in front of me – I’ll fight them. Of course I was preparing for Miesha but I think I’ll get another shot at her again.
“There’s a huge difference (in the acceptance of women’s MMA). When I started out the word MMA wasn’t there yet and females in the cage was a unique thing that never happened. I fought a little in Japan and it was already accepted over there. But then Gina Carano came out and she really made the division grow and I really believe we should thank her a lot for putting up great fights and being so popular. I believe that’s a big part of why we can fight today.
“I wanted to learn to defend myself (that’s why I started fighting). I had to go to school on my bike through the forest and there were all these stories of dirty men doing weird stuff so I wanted to learn to defend myself and I ended up studying martial arts. It was like a 7 miles bike ride.
“I’m very happy with STRIKEFORCE because I believe it’s the leading women’s organization. To be honest, I believe the (men’s) heavyweight division in STRIKEFORCE is stronger than the UFC. I feel very honored to be fighting for STRIKEFORCE. I’m very happy with the organization.”
LIZ CARMOUCHE:
“I respect Marloes Coenen – she’s the world’s best. This is an opportunity to be the best women fighter in the world and it was an opportunity I just couldn’t refuse. I was excited and I’m still anxious to fight. Just to be around someone at this level and to have an opportunity is something I just couldn’t pass up.
“I think some of the things they (the military and MMA) share in common is the inability to give into the word ‘can’t.’ We kind of push it out of our repertoire in the military and I think that transfers over into our fighting career. If there’s anything in front of us that we feel is a challenge, it pushes us that much further and that much hard to achieve it. At no point will we ever stop.
“I started off being in the military and some of the things they taught me kind of encouraged me to go towards this.
“Absolutely (I get weird looks). I’m a full-time college student and some people think I’m just a normal person and then as the conversation starts to progress and they find out I’m a professional fighter that usually changes their whole perspective on me.
“I was in the Marine Corps for five years and four months. I was an electrician on helicopters. I did three tours in Iraq.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say that I’m an adrenalin junkie, more so that I like a challenge. I like pushing myself to see what I can achieve in life and I just want to keep bettering myself as a person. In the military you train so hard and when you work for something and you’re told you can’t do it it’s just a slap in the face because as a women you work just as hard as the men, if not harder. To be told you can’t be on the front line, it’s horrible. It just shuts down everything you work for. So I wanted that and to achieve it was just one more check in the box for me. In MMA it’s the same thing. I don’t ever want to be told I can’t achieve something so I work hard to be the best fighter I can be.
“I had no hesitations. This isn’t something that I could chance or turn up. I try and stay in shape year-round so when they gave the notice I was ready for it.
“Nothing about her game concerns me. I try to stay well rounded and well developed, but she’s the best in the world so of course there’s always that concern but I feel like I’m ready for that challenge.
“I think one thing that goes in my favor is my military experience. Jitters aren’t something that you can have when you’re out in Iraq with your weapon. So that definitely works in my favor.”
TIM KENNEDY:
“It’s going to be one heck of a fight. I’m excited and I’ve been waiting to fight for a few months. I’m really excited Melvin stepped up. This is what I’ve been wanting – someone to step in the cage with me and move forward and throw some punches. I think it’s going to be a great fight. I know it’s going to be exciting. Melvin always brings it, I always bring it. May the best man win.
“I don’t think it (my mindset) has changed (since my loss). I always fight the same. I go out there and try to bring it to whoever I’m fighting. I think some style things about me have changed, how I move, the angle of my punches and how much standup I want to do, but overall my mindset hasn’t changed. It’s still in my core, I’m still tenacious, but I feel like I have a chip on my shoulder. I hadn’t lost a fight in a really long time and now I’m just anxious to go out and prove that I’m the best middleweight in the division.
“I’m a pretty chill guy. I’m just excited that I’m fighting. I wasn’t emotionally distraught. I got an explosive, fantastic, exciting fighter I’m facing.
“I love fights where guys show up to fight. That’s one of the reasons why I love fighting for STRIKEFORCE – they put together guys who want to go in the cage and hurt each other. This is not a place where guys want to squeak out a win by jabbing away and laying on top of each other. These are guys that want to go out and knock each other out. That’s the point of fighting and that’s why MMA is such a growing sport. That’s why I want to be part of it. I’m thrilled that Melvin is my opponent and I’m ready to go.
“The first thing that’s commonly demonstrated amongst military fighters is their disciple and their focus about how they approach their training and how they approach the fight itself. We’re very focused. We’re very regimented. If you look at how guys train and their training camp we’re the ones that you want to model it after. The mindset that we have is different than everybody else. We’ve seen stuff that nobody else should ever have to see. So for us to step into the cage is just a fun day. Another day in the office is trying not to get shot at. Stepping in the cage, that’s a fun day. We’re doing what we love.
“If you’ve ever been around Green Berets you don’t want them picking on you. So if I go out there and have a poor showing I will hear about it for the rest of my life and unquestionably for the rest of my career. So not only do I not want to let them down and do I want to go out and represent them because I have pride and honor, but I also don’t want them to have any ammo to make fun of me.
“My fights previously had been very short against guys that were easy to dominate in the clinch and put them on their backs, so we didn’t have much material to improve on. When I fought Jacare I had 24 ½ minutes of mistakes. My coaches had a ton of material on things we need to improve on.
“I think it’s going to be an all-around fight. I think people underestimate his wrestling. I think he’s had some bad showings on the ground but that doesn’t mean that he’s not good on the ground. I think he’s a lot more dangerous and explosive wrestler than people give him credit for. And I think I’m a lot better of a striker than people give me credit for. My last fight was 24 ½ minutes of me not looking fantastic, so for the past seventh months I’ve been training a ton on my feet. It’s MMA, it can go anywhere.
“I think every fight is a must-win fight. Your next fight is always your biggest fight. I’m a very competitive person and I go bonkers every time I lose. I never want to lose, ever. Melvin is very dangerous and likes to finish guys and I’ve never been finished. So I think it’s a very important fight for me.
“I want to go out there and show that I’m one of the best middleweight fighters in the world. There’s just an itch in me that I want to fight. I just want to go out there and do it.
“March 5 is going to be a one heck of a fight. Melvin is an amazing athlete and I’m hungry. I’m hungry for a fight and I’m hungry for a win.”
MELVIN MANHOEF:
“I’m very excited to fight again. I’m looking forward to the fight in Ohio. It’s going to be a great, hard fight.
“He’s an aggressive fighter and he’s a good all-around fighter. I think it’s going to be a heck of a fight. I cannot predict how I’m going to fight or what I’m going to do, but I think the fight will be so hard that everyone will talk about it. I think it’s going to be the fight of the night or the year.
“I had a little bit of time where I didn’t train but then I got myself together. Now I’m only focusing on the BJJ, the wrestling, the grappling. It should be a little better than before, but I’m still learning a lot. I’ll combine it a little bit, you will see.
“Yeah, every fight is a must win fight. That’s why we step in the cage – we want to win. This is what we’re doing it for. I want to win, Tim wants to win. He’s not going to give it to me. For me, it’s very important because I had some time off and I want to prove that I’m still here, I’m still strong and I’m still Melvin.
“I’m very blessed that STRIKEFORCE has picked me to fight Tim. Even though it’s on short notice I’ll give everything in my power to win this fight. I’m coming real prepared so there are no excuses. I think all the fans will enjoy it because I’m coming to fight, he’s coming to fight, it’s going to be fireworks.”
