Strikeforce 145-lbs. women's champion Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos will make her first title defense against top contender Marloes Coenen at an unannounced Strikeforce event on Jan. 30 in Miami, Florida. News of the bout was first reported by MMAWeekly.com.
Coenen was originally set to get her title shot against Santos at Strikeforce: "Fedor vs. Rogers" on Nov. 7, but Santos withdrew from the event after she injured her shoulder while competing at the 2009 Abu Dhabi World Submission Grappling Championships at the end of September in Barcelona, Spain.
Coenen was then mached up against Erin Toughill but Toughill withdrew from the card due to an undisclosed medical reason. Roxanne Modafferi then stepped up to replace Toughill against Coenen.
Coenen (17-3) went on to score a first-round submission win over Modafferi at this past weekend's Strikeforce: "Fedor vs. Rogers" event and is now holds a record of 4-1 in her last five bouts. Her only loss over that span came in her previous bout against Cindy Dandois at a Beast of the East event in January.
The Smackgirl and ReMix veteran has been competing professionally for nine years and has finished 14 of her 16 career wins including 11 by submission.
Santos is currently on an eight-fight winning streak, with her most recent and perhaps biggest win coming against the very popular Gina Carano to capture the newly-created vacant women's title at Strikeforce: "Carano vs. Cyborg" in August.
"Cyborg" has put together a near perfect MMA record of 8-1 since turning pro in May 2005, with six of her wins coming via KO or TKO. She suffered her lone career loss in her MMA debut in May 2005, where she was defeated by Erica Paes at a Show Fight event in Brazil. The Chute Boxe product holds notable wins over the likes of Vanessa Porto, Shayna Baszler and Hitomi Akano.







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