Champion Marloes Coenen vs. Miesha Tate set for "Strikeforce: Columbus"

A 135-pound women's title fight between welterweight champion Marloes Coenen (18-4 MMA, 2-1 SF) and top contender Miesha Tate (11-2 MMA, 4-1 SF) is set for March's "Strikeforce: Columbus" event.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) mentioned the likelihood of the fight on Sunday, and Tate recently posted a Twitter message confirming the booking.

The March 5 event takes place at Nationwide Arena as part of Strikeforce's Ohio debut. The night's main card, including a headliner between light-heavyweight champion Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante and Dan Henderson, airs on Showtime.

Coenen vs. Tate is expected to serve as the night's co-headliner.

Coenen is coming off two title fights under the Strikeforce banner. Although she suffered a TKO loss to women's middleweight champ Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos in January 2010, Coenen returned in October, dropped a weight class, and delivered then-women's welterweight champ Sarah Kaufman her first career loss. The third-round submission victory earned the Dutch fighter the belt and her sixth win in her past eight fights.

Tate, meanwhile, earned her title shot by winning Strikeforce's single-night four-woman tournament in August. After a decision victory over Maiju Kujala in the opening round, she bested Hitomi Akano on points in the finale. She's now 10-1 over her past 11 fights, and the lone loss came to Kaufman at Strikeforce Challengers 1 in 2009.