Strikeforce’s Aug. 18 event in California will be headlined by a major women’s title bout, and today the card received another high-profile female showdown.
The promotion announced Monday that former Strikeforce 135-pound champion Miesha Tate will return to action for the first time since losing her title when she meets Julie Kedzie at San Diego’s Valley View Casino Center. The event, Strikeforce “Rousey vs. Kaufman,” is set to be headlined by the titular championship match between champ Ronda Rousey and challenger Sarah Kaufman.
Both Tate and Kedzie will be looking to get back on track after having winning streaks snapped in their most recent bouts.
Tate, 25, had won six in a row -- including an impressive July 2011 title win against Marloes Coenen -- before running into unbeaten armbar artist Rousey in March. The Washington native made her mark in Strikeforce by winning the promotion’s one-night, four-woman tournament in August 2010.
A pupil of star trainer Greg Jackson in Albuquerque, N.M., 31-year-old Kedzie became the first Jackson’s MMA Series women’s bantamweight champion last April with a five-round win against Kaitlin Young. The experienced “Fireball” last fought in July 2011, when she suffered a decision loss in her Strikeforce debut against Alexis Davis.
Julie "Fireball" Kedzie
Miesha "Cupcake" Tate
