Kim Couture (1-1) -- the wife of former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion Randy Couture -- will return to action against Miesha Tate (5-1) during the inaugural edition of the SHO MMA: "Strikeforce Challenger Series" at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif., on May 15.
Like her opponent, "Sugar Free" will be making her second appearance on a Strikeforce card. The 33-year-old Las Vegas resident recently won for the first time in her professional career, scoring a first round technical knockout stoppage over Lina Kvokov at Strikeforce: "Destruction" in November 2008.
Couture dropped her pro debut in a gritty, hard fought unanimous decision loss to Kim Rose at a Banner Promotions event last June -- a fight in which she suffered a severely broken jaw during the first minute and continued to fight on for the full nine minutes.
That toughness is a factor that Tate will likely be well aware of on fight night ... especially if she wants to extend her current win streak to five.
The Victory Athletics product has taken down Jamie Lynn Welsh, Jessica Bednarek and Dora Baptiste -- each with first round stoppages -- since winning her debut under the Strikeforce banner by unanimous decision over Elaina Maxwell on the "Melendez vs. Thomson" card last summer.
The only loss thus far in her career was a brutal first round head kick knockout courtesy of former Gina Carano foe, Kaitlin Young, during a one-night BoDog Fight-promoted tournament back in November of 2007.
This edition of SHO MMA: "Strikeforce Challenger Series" will feature a lightweight showdown between Billy Evangelista and Mike Aina in the main event of the evening. Lavar "Big" Johnson has also been announced to be in action, but an opponent has not yet been named.
The Strikeforce Challenger Series will serve as a replacement for what the company used to refer to as "Young Guns," which was basically used to promote up-and-coming (and lesser known) fighters. The events will be similar to what Elite XC used to promote with its SHO XC: "Challenger Series" on Showtime.
Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more on the fight card as it becomes official.
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