When the final chapter is written on the legacy of Strikeforce, sooner than later based on the recent cut of heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, much of the book will be devoted to Strikeforce’s failings rather than its successes. And for good reason, too. There have been plenty of massive mistakes during the expansion of Strikeforce from a regional promotion based out of California to a national power that will get far more press than their successes.
But there should be some room in the book for Strikeforce's newest, and biggest success: new welterweight champion Miesha Tate.
Starting out with the promotion in 2008, Tate has come up the women’s ranks slowly but surely in her quest to become a champion. With a steady rise, culminating in Saturday night's title victory over Marloes Coenen, Tate has gone from being a young fighter needing some seasoning to one of the faces of women’s MMA in what seems like a short amount of time.
With a handful of challengers still to come after her title, and a potential rematch with Coenen down the road, Tate is peaking at the right time for her talents and abilities. And if Strikeforce hadn’t kept her rise as a fighter slow, she wouldn’t have had the ability or experience to beat Coenen in the co-main event of “Fedor vs. Henderson.”
It’s proper to give credit to UFC president Dana White and UFC's parent company Zuffa for how they built up current light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones, making him fight his way through the ranks before getting a title shot against Shogun Rua. He was given a steady diet of lesser fighters and gatekeepers before facing Ryan Bader and Rua in a two-month span, allowing him to continually improve his abilities while also keeping from being rushed to the main event and a title shot. When he took on Rua it felt right that he was there, that he wasn’t being rushed into a main event quickly like some fighters in the past have been. Jones as champion wasn’t a fluke miracle or creative match-making. By the time Jones made his way into the main event he was ready for it.
And that’s exactly the way one can describe Tate's ascension. She used the unique contract structure with Strikeforce to fight outside the company to continue her development. She kept winning, with her only loss to title contender Sarah Kaufman, and as such her progression as a fighter wasn’t rushed.
It could’ve been. She’s an attractive, well-spoken woman and as such pushing her into the limelight based on her aesthetics alone would’ve been easy. She makes for an almost perfect representative for women’s MMA; she’s a good fighter with a strong background (to satisfy the hardcore audience), she’s attractive (for the men) and she’s a terrific role model for young girls. Pushing her before she was ready as another Gina Carano seemed like the logical move and it’s not like it’d have been a new one for Strikeforce.
It had been done before and failed miserably.
Miesha Tate holds Strikeforce gold right now. When all is said and done, the company’s ability to bring her along slowly, and to give her a title fight at the opportune moment, will be one of the best things Strikeforce ever did.
