Media Exactly 22 years ago this historic wmma fight happened

[fortheo]

For the first "official" wmma Championship, a decade before rousey even debuted. These women helped pave the way for the wmma that is in the UFC today.

The 2000 remix world cup was an open weight tournament between 12 women from various combat sports backgrounds. Coenen fought three times that night.

154lbs Marloes Coenen vs. 209lbs Becky Levi.

Fight starts a minute in.

 

[Buff]

Marloes was the OG Shayna Baszler always wanted to be.

Megumi Fuji is another chick tbsgs been criminally forgotten these years.

 

[fortheo]

Marloes was the OG Shayna Baszler always wanted to be.

Megumi Fuji is another chick tbsgs been criminally forgotten these years.

Yeah man, Marloes posted about this fight today on her IG and barely got any likes or comments. It's a shame because she was a big part in ushering in WMMA to a bigger audience. This tournament was what opened the doors for strikeforce bringing Wmma to more eyes in north America. Marloes's opponent in this video was an OG, too. Levi was trained by Dan Severn, she was 5-0 at that time, and she took part in the first ever wmma event in the us in 1997.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

Marloes was always one of my faves back in the day. Levi was a big bitch of a woman, whose only loss was to Coenen. She quit fighting after that tourney. Old heads will remember her from wrestler's entourages in the early days of MMA, Frye, Severn, etc.

 

[fortheo]

Marloes was always one of my faves back in the day. Levi was a big bitch of a woman, whose only was loss to Coenen. She quit fighting after that tourney. Old heads will remember her from wrestler's entourages in the early days of MMA, Frye, Severn, etc.

I have a lot of respect for the fighters who were doing crazy things like open weight tournaments and fighting multiple times in one night. Marloes was only like 19 at that time and ran through her opposition. Always a fan

 

[VinceArch]

Man I wish Marloes competed for the UFC but Zuffa immediately cut her on some BS reasons IIRC. At least she captured Strikeforce gold.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

I have a lot of respect for the fighters who were doing crazy things like open weight tournaments and fighting multiple times in one night. Marloes was only like 19 at that time and ran through her opposition. Always a fan

There's a lot to be said of a fighter who has a big fight coming up and shows up with a gameplan and dominates. To me though, much more can be said of those who survived these tourneys and won. You may have had an educated guess of who you'll fight, but there are a lot of options and variables there, mostly, and you have to be ready to go no matter who you'll be fighting. Winning one of those tourneys was quite the accomplishment, for anyone. Maybe it is just because I'm borderline old now and was there for a lot of tourneys (in front of a TV) when they were fresh, but I will always respect those fighters a little bit more. Three or four in one night is tough no matter who you're fighting.

 

[Get To Da Choppa]

For the first *official* wmma Championship, a decade before rousey even debuted. These women helped pave the way for the wmma that is in the UFC today.

The 2000 remix world cup was an open weight tournament between 12 women from various combat sports backgrounds. Coenen fought three times that night.

154lbs Marloes Coenen vs. 209lbs Becky Levi.

Fight starts a minute in.

I always think Marloes Coenen is a good looking lady. She's got that Karolina Kowalkiewicz vibe to her.

She was quite underrated as a fighter, and went up against some of the best in her time. She was also just 19 in that fight

 

[scottjoebob]

I actually have this DVD .

 

[xentreos]

Wow I've been a fan for a super long time and I was unaware of this event. Cool post ts, I never really questioned where WMMA blew up prior to strike force/ Invicta.

 

[AL-Tappo McSnappo]

Yeah man, Marloes posted about this fight today on her IG and barely got any likes or comments. It's a shame because she was a big part in ushering in WMMA to a bigger audience. This tournament was what opened the doors to strikeforce bringing Wmma to more eyes in north America. Marloes's opponent in this video was an OG, too. Levi was trained by Dan Severn, she was 5-0 at that time, and she took part in the first ever wmma event in the us in 1997.

I hate WMMA, but someone like her deserves more respect than that

 

[xhaydenx]

Marloes was the OG Shayna Baszler always wanted to be.

Megumi Fuji is another chick tbsgs been criminally forgotten these years.

GOAT.

The way that other girl dragged herself away lol. Megumi was so good. Sad how she got robbed when she started fighting over in america. That Frausto loss was a complete joke.

 

[NoSmilez]

It is a shame that she never made it to the UFC. Her management and the UFC couldn't come to terms with who should be paid first. The fighter or the management. They fired all the Golden Glory fighters and Overeem left Golden Glory. That pretty stopped GG's push to North America.

 

[jenst]

Marloes is an OG.
Once had a dream she was in my corner for a pro-fight. I did very bad but she kept on supporting me.

 

[TheTickG]

Marloes was the OG Shayna Baszler always wanted to be.

Megumi Fuji is another chick tbsgs been criminally forgotten these years.

Wasn't Megumi doing some shady glove grabbing while twisting around to injure limbs in order to win fights at this event?

 

[Nathan LaMontagne]

Marloes was fucking awesome.

She should've been a mega star but she was too far ahead of her time.

Unlike 95% of women now, she fought with an urgency that's rarely seen anymore.

Actually threw power in her shots, and after that? Throwing flying armbars.

She's pure class and deserves respect! Her and Fujii

 

[Gamer2k4]

Yeah man, Marloes posted about this fight today on her IG and barely got any likes or comments. It's a shame because she was a big part in ushering in WMMA to a bigger audience. This tournament was what opened the doors to strikeforce bringing Wmma to more eyes in north America. Marloes's opponent in this video was an OG, too. Levi was trained by Dan Severn, she was 5-0 at that time, and she took part in the first ever wmma event in the us in 1997.

It was HARD to be in WMMA at the time. Valentina Shevchenko, for example, started in 2003, a month after her 15th birthday. You basically had to go from country to country to find some poorly run, basement promotion that would pay you a couple of bucks to fight. You often didn't know who your opponent was going to be (or if you did, you didn't know anything about them), and after the fight, you pretty much had to hope the promoters would actually pay out and the check wouldn't bounce.

Credit to the pioneers, because this was something that was incredibly hard to break into.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

Marloes is a beautiful lady and person

 

[TheNinja]

Marloes was fucking awesome.

She should've been a mega star but she was too far ahead of her time.

Unlike 95% of women now, she fought with an urgency that's rarely seen anymore.

Actually threw power in her shots, and after that? Throwing flying armbars.

She's pure class and deserves respect! Her and Fujii

Agreed. She would have been a star. She's good looking and can finish striking or submissions.