Mireille Zandstra

Since her first professional fight in the year 2000 at age 19, Dutch-born Marloes "Rumina" Coenen is among the most veteran of mixed martial artists. Coenen's introduction to combat sports happened out of a will to learn self-defense when she was 12, with no intention to compete as a professional fighter. Circumstances lead a young Coenen having to travel back and forth alone to school in her native Olst in the Netherlands. She stopped playing volleyball and tennis learn fighting. By age 14, Coenen tried Karate, but felt restricted by its choreographed moves called "katas". She also tried Jiu Jitsu for a year but felt it was not as realistic as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ). Her interest in BJJ lead her to Martijn de Jong who taught classes in "free fighting"--Mixed Martial Arts. Jong competed professionally and was made the local head of the Japan-based Shooto organization, named Shooto Europe.

Coenen won her first amateur fight in 20 seconds. After winning the amateur fights Coenen focused on attending a local university until she was invited to her first professional fight in Japan. Coenen's opponent was Yuuki Kondo, whom she submitted by arm bar at the L1 event,"Ladies Legend Pro Wrestling". Before getting settled back home in the Netherlands, Coenen was invited back to Japan to compete in "World Cup 2000" tournament held that November by the ReMix organization. Feeling unprepared by the short notice, Marloes was convinced by Martijn de Jong to compete. In the tournament, she submitted Mika Harigai 31 seconds in the first round by rear-naked choke. Coenen advanced to implement a flying arm bar on Becky Levi 90 seconds in their fight, then won the unanimous decision over Megumi Yabushita to win the tournament and become the ReMix World Cup champion. Her success motivated her to take time off from her studies at Erasmus University. In her next bout for Remix in 2001, in a non-tournament bout Coenen submitted Yoko Takahashi by a first round arm bar.

In 2002, she again fought Megumi Yabushita, this time it was in at the "No Holds Barred" event for Japan's Jd' promotion. Unlike their first meeting in the Remix tournament, it did not make it to the judges--Coenen submitted Yabushita in the first round. In that same year she went to Shooto to win a 2 round majority decision over 'Miwako Ishihara' at 'Wanna Shooto 2002'.

Marloes was absent from competition for 2 years because of glandular fever, while she kept training in the interim. She returned to fighting in late 2004 to fight Yoko Takahashi whom she defeated 3 years earlier in ReMix. ReMix changed its name in 2001 to SmackGIRL, and continued holding tournaments. In the "World ReMix 2004" tournament bout, Coenen again beat Takahashi, this time by TKO in the 2nd round. Coenen advanced to meet Erin Toughill, who knocked her out in the first round, giving Coenen her first professional lost. Months later Coenen again fought Yuuki Kondo, her first mixed martial arts opponent, at the SmackGIRL event "Cool Fighter's Last Stand.". The bout ended early in the 2nd round when Coenen knocked out Kondo. In 2006, Coenen returned to Shooto--now named G-Shooto--to fight Yoko Takahashi for the 3rd time. Coenen won her 3rd and quickest victory over Takahashi with a early arm bar.

In one of her few fights in her native Netherlands, Coenen competed in Ultimate Glory's second event in 2007, where she submitted Majanka Lathouwers by arm bar. Months later in May she entered K-Grace's "K-Grace 1" tournament in Japan. Coenen applied successive rear-naked chokes on Keiko Tamai, then Magdalena Jarecka before encountering Roxanne Modafferi. Modafferi eliminated Coenen after winning by split decision. A year later, she fought Asci Kubra in Holland and won by arm bar in the promotion Beast of the East. Coenen then traveled to Switzerland a few months later to compete in Ultimate Glory for the 2nd time. At the event, "Swiss Las Vegas", she fought Romy Ruyssen and won my rear-naked choke in the 2nd round. She returned to Holland to again fight Asci Kubra, this time for K.O. Events "Tough is Not Enough"; she won by technical knockout. In early 2009, Coenen returned to Beast of the East and lost a unanimous decision to Cindy Dandois.

Coenen had a contract with Elite XC (2007), however she never fought with the American promotion because it went out of business in October 2008. By the time of Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg (2009), Coenen had a contract with Strikeforce (2006), and was present as a possible replacement if either Cris Cyborg (Cristiane Justino) or Gina Carano could not make the appropriate weight. Coenen was originally considered to fight Erin Toughill at the event, but Toughill had unresolved contractual issues with the promotion. Prior to this Coenen was to have fought Justino in Montreal at XMMA 7, promoted by Canada's Xtreme MMA. Justino withdrew from the fight purportedly due to injuries.

After Justino defeated Carano to become Strikeforce's first featherweight champion, Coenen was mentioned as a possible contender. There were plans to include Coenen in what was to have been an 8-woman tournament to determine Cyborg's next opponent. The tournament never came to fruition, and instead, Coenen's first fight with Strikeforce (2006) happened in November 2009 at the event,CBS Strikeforce M-1 Global Saturday Night Fights (2009). Coenen was to have fought Justino for the title, but Justino withdrew due to injuries from a grappling competition. Coenen was again booked against Erin Toughill with the winner challenging Justino for the title. Toughill canceled due to a medical situation, and Coenen faced a previous opponent in Roxanne Modafferi, who was also competing in the promotion for the first time. Early in the first round, Coenen hurt Modafferi with a strike before taking the fight to the ground, then submitting Modafferi by arm bar a little past the first minute. With that victory, Coenen became Justino's first title challenger, which required Coenen to move up a weight class at Strikeforce: Miami (2010). It was mainly a striking bout with Coenen lasting longer that Justino's recent opponents. Coenen used her size to neutralize Justino's striking power until the 3rd round when took she Coenen to the ground, attacked with punches and the fight was stopped.

Coenen partly attributed her defeat to Santos came as the result of of playing to her opponent's strength and making it a stand-up fight. Following her loss to Justino, Coenen dropped a weight class to return to the women's welterweight division. She was named the next challenger for Sara Kaufman at Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Noons 2 (2010). The fight was for the Strikeforce Women's Welterweight title held by Kaufman. An issue immediately ensued after the fight when a visibly upset Kaufman complained that Coenen held the submission too long. An apologetic Coenen comforted Kaufman and said she held the submission until the referee--who appeared to be out of position--eventually intervened. Miesha Tate was already known as the next contender for the Strikeforce Women's Welterweight championship. Tate had earn the title opportunity by winning a tournament held at "Strikeforce Challengers 10" where she unanimously won over Maiju Suotamaand Hitomi Akano.(Carina Damm had also competed in the tournament and was eliminated by Akano.)

Several days before Coenen and Tate was to fight at Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson (2011) in March 2011, Tate withdrew from the fight reportedly due to injuries sustained in training. Liz Carmouche was quickly announced as the new challenger. Carmouche had defeated Colleen Schneider in an alternate bout at "Strikeforce Challengers 10". Carmouche utilized her wrestling abilities to put Coenen on defense for much of the fight and controlling her on the ground. Presumably behind by points up to the fourth round, Coenen caught Carmouche with a triangle choke submission to retain the championship.

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Marloes Coenen

Actress

Self

Credit Score: Marloes Coenen