Marloes Coenen is the centerpiece of Bellator’s women’s
featherweight division. | Photo: Keith Mills/Sherdog.com
One look at the resume of Marloes Coenen will tell you she has to be considered a prohibitive favorite against Arlene Blencowe, her opponent at Bellator 141.
Coenen has been fighting for more than 14 years and has taken on some of the top names in MMA, including reigning Invicta Fighting Championships titleholder Cristiane Justino, onetime Strikeforce champion Sarah Kaufman and former Ultimate Fighting Championship title challengers Miesha Tate and Liz Carmouche. Meanwhile, Blencowe has just 10 pro fights under her belt and sports a relatively modest 6-4 record.
Advertisement
“She is a decorated boxer, so that’s something to think about,” Coenen told Sherdog.com. “She has some good hands and she’s shorter than me, so I’ll have to watch that. I see some weaknesses in her ground game, so I’ve been focusing on slipping punches and taking things to the ground.”
Blencowe’s toughness has impressed Coenen.
“She’ll be able to take a few shots and give them, for sure,” she said. “In one of her fights, she broke a bone in the first round and won the fight. You stay in the game after getting hurt like that, it shows you’re tough mentally. It tells me she’s a tough cookie.”
“
game so long, you get to be
mentally tough. I’ve been in
the fight game for a long time,
but I’m not going anywhere.
”
“I feel like I only need one or two wins to fight for a title,” said the 34-year-old Coenen, who has won five of her last seven fights, losing only to the aforementioned Justino and Tate. “I think I’ve proved myself long enough. I think [Bellator] thought that I’d fight for a title soon when they signed me. If I win two in a row, I think I’ll be in line for a shot.”
Meanwhile, Blencowe, a native Australian who operates out of Team Te Huna, would like nothing more than to derail Coenen’s title hopes. Blencowe knocked out Adrienna Jenkins in the first round of her promotional debut at Bellator 137 in May and carries a four-fight winning streak into the matchup with Coenen. The fighter known as “Angerfist” started her professional MMA career 1-3, but she has won five of six since, with the lone loss coming to Faith Van Duin by split decision. She has four finishes among her six career victories.
However, the 32-year-old Blencowe does appear to have an Achilles’ heel on the ground, as she has been submitted three times in her four losses. Coenen, despite her affinity for submissions, claims she will do whatever she has to do to win, even if that means standing with Blencowe.
“I’m never going to come out and say what my game plan is, nor am I going to just stick to one thing,” Coenen said. “I’m going to stand and fight and see what happens. [Dutch kickboxer and eight-time muay Thai world champion] Ramon Dekkers is one of my favorite fighters, and I want to show I can stand when I want to. I can stand with her, wrestle her or go to the ground. One thing is for sure, though: I never want to win on points. If we stay standing up, I hope to get a knockout. If we wrestle or go to the ground, I want to get a submission. No matter how I do it, I want to win in a dominant fashion.”
Coenen believes she has covered all the necessary bases in prepping for her latest test.
“Camp is going quite well,” she said. “I’ve been getting more into specific stuff the past few weeks, and the sparring has been more specific the last couple of weeks. My weight is going well, and that’s important, too. I’m very excited about the fight coming up.”
Even though she has been in the fight game for almost 15 years, Coenen -- who started training at age 14 in her native Holland -- feels like she has a lot of fights left in her.
“When you’ve been in the game so long, you get to be mentally tough,” Coenen said. “I’ve been in the fight game for a long time, but I’m not going anywhere.”
Related Articles
