Strikeforce Fedor vs. Henderson: Miesha Tate vs. Marloes Coenen Full Breakdown

In the co-main event of Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson, Meisha Tate will attempt to wrest the Strikeforce women's welterweight championship from champion Marloes Coenen.

There is an adage in mixed martial arts that goes "styles make fights." The fight between Tate and Coenen is certainly no exception.

As with any fight, each fighter brings certain abilities to the table that match up with their opponent's skills favorably, evenly, or negatively. What is the breakdown for Miesha Tate and Marloes Coenen? Who has the edge in each area? Read and find out!

Experience: Marloes Coenen

To start the breakdown, we will first look at the cage experience of each competitor.

Marloes Coenen has had 23 fights in her career, including one against the indomitable Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos, the current Strikeforce women's middleweight champion.

Tate, on the other hand, has had 13 fights.

Thus, Coenen has more experience in the cage and this experience may help her stay calm when things go awry, which they definitely will at least once against a dangerous opponent like Tate.

Striking: Even

In the striking department, both fighters seem to be evenly matched.

Both Tate and Coenen have only three of their victories coming by way of (T)KO.

Maybe some would give Coenen a slight edge in striking due to the fact that she trains with the famed Golden Glory gym, whose specialty is in kickboxing/Dutch-style Muay Thai.

Despite this fact, Coenen is more of a grappler; 14 of her 19 wins have come by submission.

However, it is possible that Tate, knowing of Coenen's 14 submission victories and her propensity to armbar her opponents, will use her superior wrestling to keep the fight standing. Tate is not exactly a slouch in the stand-up game.

It is for these reasons that the striking aspect of the fight is too difficult to score for one fighter or the other. The MMA world will only find out who is better on Saturday night.

Wrestling: Miesha Tate

Miesha Tate has a very strong wrestling base and even earned a silver medal at the FILA World Wrestling Championships in 2003. In addition, Tate has access to superior wrestlers due to her training at Team Alpha Male. Urijah Faber and Chad Mendes will be able to improve Tate's wrestling game better than anyone in the Netherlands can improve Coenen's.

Miesha Tate's wrestling ability and ability to smother and wear down her opponents can be seen in her previous fights, specifically those during the Strikeforce women's welterweight tournament.

On the other hand, if Coenen has a weakness, it's wrestling. Underdog Liz Carmouche was dominating Coenen with superb and relentless wrestling in their fight at Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson for the first three rounds until Coenen applied the fight-winning armbar early in the fourth round.

Wrestling will be a huge factor in this fight and it's Tate who has an undeniable advantage.

Submissions: Slight Edge to Coenen

Marloes Coenen has sometimes been called a "female Rickson" after the legendary Rickson Gracie due to her outstanding ability to end fights with armbars. Over half of her 14 submission victories were by armbar.

However, Tate isn't clueless in the submission game. Tate, like Coenen, has never been submitted and has four out of 11 victories coming by way of submission.

Both women are well versed in the arts of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and submission grappling. It seems as though Coenen has a better guard and bottom game than Tate, but Tate has a better top game. While this would normally make this aspect even, Coenen's Jiu-Jitsu seems a little more polished and quick, which gives her a very slight edge.

Physical Abilities (Strength, Conditioning, Etc.): Slight Edge to Meisha Tate

In terms of pure conditioning, it's difficult to give either fighter an edge since neither Tate nor Coenen has gone the full five rounds of a championship fight (although Tate did go five rounds in one night to win the Strikeforce women's welterweight tournament on August 13th, 2010, but these five rounds were only three minutes apiece rather than the usual five).

It can be said that both fighters do not tire when faced with adversity.

While conditioning may be even, it appears as though Tate has an advantage in pure physical strength. In all of Tate's Strikeforce fights, she has used her superior strength and grappling to control her opponents. Coenen has not demonstrated such abilities.

All of the critical factors influencing the fight have been discussed. Who will most likely emerge as champion?

Winner: Miesha Tate

There are three ways this fight can go:

First, Miesha Tate can use her superior wrestling and strength to control and pulverize Coenen a la Liz Carmouche en route to a unanimous decision victory or late TKO.

Second, Miesha Tate can use her wrestling to press Coenen up against the cage and impose her will on her a la Randy Couture and earn a decision victory

Third, Miesha Tate can employ the first option but Coenen can catch her in an armbar or a triangle in a fight that uncannily resembles Coenen vs. Carmouche.

These are the three most likely occurrences that will happen in the fight, two of which see Miesha Tate's hand raised at the end. Thus, probability dictates that Tate will win the fight more often than not as long as she remains constantly vigilant against Coenen's armbar and submission attempts.