Miesha Tate says the year-long layoff could work to her advantage after switching training camps a year ago

Strikeforce women’s 135 pound champion, Miesha Tate has been giving her thoughts on her upcoming fight with Marloes Coenen this weekend in Chicago, Illinois, and rather than look at the negatives behind having to take a year out due to injury, she thinks it’s something that could just work in her favour.
Speaking via MMAJunkie.com, Tate said:

“Having that knee injury was not my first one, and it probably won’t be my last one. It’s unfortunate. Your knees are so precious. They are just hard to deal with when you hurt them. They are easy to hurt. They are just a complex mechanism and not the strongest point of the body. When you are going live and going hard, it just happens.”

“The good thing about it (the layoff) is that Coenen doesn’t have any footage of me fighting or competing since almost a year ago. I’ve been at a different camp for that whole year training with Team Alpha Male. I’m so much better than I was then. It’s going to be hard for her to prepare for me. She’s not going to know what to expect. There’s no way.”

“I really hope it says a lot to the people that are watching and deciding whether women’s MMA is valuable enough to keep it around or what not, when that decision does come. I hope it’s fight of the year for women’s MMA.”

Tate won a one-night, four-woman tournament at Strikeforce Challengers 10 to be named the number one contender at 135 pounds. She is currently on a five-fight winning streak going into this one.