Author: By Jordan Newmark

Honestly, what can be said about Ronda Rousey that hasn’t already been said by her in any one of the million articles written about presumably the new face of women’s MMA in the past two months? For good or for bad, everyone wants a piece of her and she is ready to boldly answer every call, question, doubt or potential Strikeforce title fight that is offered. As each day draws closer to this near mythical showdown with current champion Miesha “Takedown” Tate on Saturday, regardless of all of Rousey’s talk, people are still as befuddled as ever about why she’s so brash, where she came from, when did judo become this devastating, and how is it even possible for someone who has spent less than two minutes inside a Strikeforce cage to win one of their most coveted belts?

Although, “Rowdy” has been shouting this from the rooftops since Day One, it has not sunk in yet: Rousey is an Olympic athlete. Twice! At 17 years old, she was the youngest judo player at the 2004 Games in Athens, and four years later represented the USA again in Beijing, China. If that wasn’t enough, Rousey actually won a bronze at the 2008 Games, making her the first American to ever medal in women’s judo. Before all of that, she had been wreaking havoc at top international judo competitions dating as far back as 2001. For Rousey, it is crystal clear tgat being an elite level judoka for the past decade has prepared her more than enough to tangle with the 12-2 bantamweight champ Tate.

“I’m an Olympic caliber athlete and she’s a high school wrestler,” states Rousey. “To assume that that cancels each other out, it’s wrong. To say she has a few more years experience of fighting MMA and has fought 10 more girls during that period of time, meanwhile I was fighting hundreds and hundreds of matches against Olympic caliber opponents. The girls I was competing with, it was their full-time job to train every single day, and their government was putting money into flying them around the world for training camps at the best facilities possible and to have the best coaching possible. It was professional. For her to beat a couple girls who train at a gym on the weekends and decided to pick up MMA and then having these long drawn out fights with them, she’s had a hard time with them. It’s not like she’s dominating them. For her to think that experience is equal is ignorant.”

The 25-year old, alliteratively named, Californian with Venezuelan roots, movie star looks, athletic genetics, and a penchant for breaking people’s arms sounds as much like a Stan Lee comic book heroine as the number one contender for the women’s 135 pound division’s belt. To say Rousey is an alluring character is as much an understatement as saying her rise to prominence in MMA last year was meteoric. In her first and only four professional fights, Rousey has debuted in a sport new to her, took it by storm, has gained wild popularity, and is actually the betting odds’ favorite to defeat the champion, Tate, who will be defending her title for the first time since winning the belt last July from Marloes Coenen via arm-triangle choke. Galvanizing this much widespread support in such a short time is almost unheard of.

“It is surprising,” admits Rousey. “Most people don’t realize in my judo career, I was an American fighting internationally and you don’t realize how unpopular you are until you start traveling the world. I got booed and was cheered against in almost every single major tournament in my life. Even when I was in the US, I wasn’t getting cheered on that much. I kind of always thought that I was going to be labeled as the ‘bad guy’, but to have so many people in my corner supporting me is really encouraging and I feel more motivated than ever. All throughout judo, I felt like I had a chip on my shoulder and I had all these people to prove wrong. I still have people to prove wrong, but it is really encouraging to have people who believe in me as well.”

From the very beginning, Rousey and her myriad of highly regarded coaches believed she was capable of such dominance in women’s MMA, but there was someone very special she had to convince first: her mother. “When I first decided to commit myself 100% to MMA, I was talking to my manager, my conditioning coach, and my wrestling coach, and I told them we have to sit down with my mom because she really doesn’t like me doing this and we need to get her on board and have her support and that was before my first pro fight,” tells Rousey of her 1984 World Judo Championship winning mom, Dr. Ann Maria Rousey DeMars, who wouldn’t send her daughter to judo tournaments unless she thought she was prepared to win them. “I remember my coach telling my mom, ‘this girl is something different, she is something special, and we think a year after she turns pro she is going to win the world championship title.’ They believed that in me since the very beginning and I believed that in me since the very beginning and I needed to believe that.”

With everyone on board, the S.S. Rousey set sail into the dangerous waters of women’s mixed martial arts in search of more athletic glory, but, most of all, a financially viable career. In plainer terms, “Rowdy” needed money and fast. After years of competing against the best in the world in front of thousands of riotous fans from Brazil to France, Rousey’s bank account was next to nothing and she was in desperate need for an immediate future where she could showcase her abilities with tangible rewards at the end of it.

“At the time, I was working three jobs: graveyard shift at 24 hour fitness, physical therapy on dogs, teaching judo,” remembers Rousey. “I was trying to train full-time, the air-conditioning was broken in my car and only one window worked, I was living in a one bedroom apartment I was sharing with a friend of mine, I had a huge dog, everything was broken all the time, we had no water pressure, we were living off pretty much bomb shelter food, we had to use coins to pay rent, and I could barely feed my dog. People are like ‘why is she pushing for all this so hard?’ I had to push to get all of this as soon as possible! Do you think I wanted to waste my time waiting another two and a half years winning some fights so that everyone will think that I’m ‘worthy of my talents’? I am worthy of my talents! I need to win and I need to do this quick because I’m tired of living with the cockroaches and eating frozen vegetables!”

This is when the 4th dan black belt in judo’s story becomes even more ridiculous, as she beat a war path to Tate’s Strikeforce title. In her first pro bout last March, “Rowdy” won by armbar in 25 seconds. In her second scrap three months later, “Rowdy” won by armbar, again, in 49 seconds, which is, currently, Rousey’s longest professional fight. On August 12th, Rousey made her Strikeforce debut with, shockingly enough, an armbar submission at 25 seconds into the opening round against Sarah D’Alelio. A minor controversy stemming from the win over D’Alelio was that she claimed her shout of pain was not a verbal tap. That left an indelible impression on Rousey entering her fourth fight in November, which was unfortunate for Julia Budd (who had her arm broken in 39 seconds) and any of Rousey’s future opponents.

“I felt like I really had to validate myself because with Sarah D’Alelio I thought I had done the coolest flying armbar that everyone had ever seen in women’s MMA and she really stained that for me,” says Rousey. “I tried to save that poor girl’s arm from snapping to pieces and she said she didn’t tap. I felt so angry that that fight got cheapened that I really had to prove a point and validate myself with Julia Budd and I did exactly that. I went in there with the idea that I had to dominate and make it as one-sided as possible. I literally wasn’t going to stop cranking on her arm for anything. If anything, I’m even more motivated for this fight. A lot of people are saying, ‘don’t you think you’ve talked yourself into a corner and are under a lot of pressure from everything you said?’ I want to feel like I’m put into a corner, I want to feel like there is no other option, and I don’t want to have an exit strategy if I lose. I don’t want to entertain the possibility that I could lose. I’m motivated and I’m very positive it is going to be one of the best performances of my career.”

In the hotly anticipated main event this Saturday, Rousey will challenge Tate, and while much of the focus of this tussle is on the newcomer Rousey, Tate has earned her place at the top of the mountain, riding a four fight win streak inside of the Strikeforce cage. Tate’s most inspiring victory was her last, with a fourth round arm-triangle choke over vaunted submission artist Coenen. In her own right, Tate is an accomplished amateur wrestler and submission grappler, but Rousey is unilaterally unimpressed with the champion’s physical abilities.

“I think her advantages are she doesn’t get frustrated when she gets hit and she has good conditioning,” discloses Rousey. “Even when she is behind she keeps a cool head. You can tell she has experience in that she doesn’t panic. Her disadvantages are that she’s extremely slow, she’s not very explosive with any of her takedowns, her striking has a lot to be desired, and her submission game isn’t exciting either. I don’t think she has any real finishing power that I have to worry about. The main theme of this fight is about positioning on the ground and making sure I don’t get stuck in side-control or the mount and making it look like she’s controlling the action. I don’t have to worry about any submissions or knockouts or TKOs from her; I have to worry about her trying to eek out a decision victory.”

To prepare for the throwdown with “Takedown”, Rousey has decided to continue to work with the same disturbingly decorated cast of coaches that helped her get thus far. For her standup, Rousey trains at the Glendale Fighting Club with fellow pro fighters like UFC vet Manny Gamburyan. For her ground game, Rousey has Rickson Gracie BJJ black belt Henry Akins at Dynamix MMA, judo icon Gene LeBell, and multiple international wrestling champion Leo Frincu, who also doubles as Rousey’s strength and conditioning coach. With this type of quality coaching, plus Rousey’s storied athletic history, it’s mystifying that there are plenty of critics, including Tate, that question what the challenger will do if the fight goes 60 seconds.

“I think that’s a huge advantage actually,” explains Rousey. “They have no video of me and if I’m completely dominating everyone within a minute I think the only way they can convince themselves that they have a chance is that outside of the minute I’m useless. It’s kind of funny to me that they think after a minute I’m going to spontaneously combust. Them thinking that after a minute I’m useless is just a horrible strategy for them. I am an Olympic athlete. Before I did judo I was a swimmer and conditioning was always my biggest asset in judo. I’m happy for people to doubt me because that’s what helps create debate about this fight. It makes people want to see each one of my fights to see what happens after a minute. I’m not mad people are doubting me, but they’ll be surprised.”

As mentioned time and time again, Rousey is entering the Strikeforce cage to win 10 pounds of gold, but, whether she accomplishes that or not, what she has done already is a valuable lesson. “If you put in the time and the energy, and believe in yourself, then you are capable of everything and I want to be able to inspire people with that,” reveals Rousey, who talked and fought her way to a title shot with less than a year’s worth of professional experience and, clearly, has a promising career ahead of her. “I want people to see that you should set high goals for yourself even if it is scary, and it is scary to put yourself on the line. I’ve been talking a whole lot about it, I’m putting my pride on the line, I’m putting my safety on the line, but what I want people to learn is that being courageous pays off some times.”

On March 3rd at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, all eyes will be fixed on the clash for the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight championship between Tate and Rousey. “This girl, Miesha, is going to trip out when she sees me at weigh-ins,” adds Rousey, who has been training for this fight just as hard as she has been selling it from the very beginning. “I have no injuries, we’ve been training perfectly, my body is just completely transformed, and I feel lighter, quicker, and more agile. And I’m just cut up! Oh my God, she’s going to be scared when she sees me.”

Finally, if all the hype, the title, and the trash talk haven’t gotten fight fans excited enough for this matchup then “Rowdy” has one more thing to add about herself and Tate: “These girls are gorgeous and then they’re going to get into unarmed combat – for real.”

Sold.

Since the beginning of 2012, fight fans have been nearly frothing at the mouth for arguably the most anticipated throwdown in women’s MMA history: “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha “Takedown” Tate for the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight championship. It feels like this titanic twosome’s tussle for the title is about all the MMA media can talk about, but waiting in the wings on March 3rd’s undercard are a highly talented Canadian duo who are preparing to derail this hype-train with a show-stealing rematch to determine the next number one contender: Sarah Kaufman and Alexis Davis.

The title elimination bout will pit the first and former Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Kaufman against the highly-ranked in the 135-pound division Davis. If there’s truly a forgotten face on this Columbus, Ohio fight card, it would be Davis, as some believe Kaufman should be in the main event scrapping over the belt with Tate. But with a possible third win in Strikeforce in just as many fights, Davis could rewrite a loss on her record, claim a shot at bantamweight gold, teach a lesson to any overlooking her, and accomplish it all in well under a year’s time. Not too bad for the juggernaut from Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada.

“I always feel like I’m constantly underestimated,” asserts Davis. “I think with every fight in Strikeforce I’ve been the underdog. I think my good luck charm in there is being the underdog. But after this fight, I’m definitely going to come more into the spotlight. Everyone is focused on the Tate-Rousey fight, but I think Sarah and I will put on a show that will represent women’s MMA well regardless of what happens in their fight. I’m sure I’ll be coming up a lot more in the future.”

At 27 years old, Davis has proven she’s a strong-jawed grappler who certainly doesn’t shy away from contact, doesn’t wilt under pressure, and is getting used to getting her hand raised inside the Strikeforce cage. In 2011, Davis scored back-to-back victories in Strikeforce, starting with her debut unanimous decision grinder over veteran Julie Kedzie in July. Less than two months later, Davis squared off in an action packed slugfest with the then 6-1 (all wins by knockout), power punching “Lioness of the Ring,” Amanda Nunes.

“I knew she was going to try and finish it earlier,” says Davis. “She’s notorious for first round knockouts. I knew she was going to come in guns blazing, looking for that one shot knockout. That was my whole gameplan going in there to close the distance because I didn’t want to be on the end of those punches and to kind of keep the pressure on. Things didn’t go as planned. She’s also a brown belt in judo as well. She’s tall. She’s taller than me and with a longer reach. I wanted to make sure to keep the pressure on her and keep the cage control and work her legs more to kill that power. She’s tough.”

The first five minutes were nearly all back and forth striking, with neither fighter giving the other an inch of breathing room. That may not have been what Davis’ coach and mentor Dave Dayboll wanted from his four stripe Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, but it sent a message to her counterparts that Davis can more than hold her own with a feared knockout artist. The second round was more standup fisticuffs, but with a minute remaining it was Nunes who pulled the trigger and tried to bring the fight to the floor. After the well-executed throw from Nunes, Davis immediately reversed positions and took control for the eventual win.

“I have a great, positive coach in there and he was telling me that I have to push the pace more and try to practice slipping punches more in there,” tells Davis. “I’m kind of hard headed and I like to just drive forward in there. It’s a constant progress there, trying to work my way in there with striking. I’m kind of stubborn. If you watch my fights you can kind of tell that. I figured if it went to the ground that that was something for my strong point in there. I was fortunate enough in the second round that she went for that judo throw and it’s something in jiu-jitsu that we always try to work on: hips and capitalizing and reversing off of that.”

Once in top position and knowing there was only a short time remaining, Davis rained down punches any which way she could to get the fight stopped at 4:53 of round two. “I did hear the ‘knock knocks’ and I just thought I can’t stop moving,” remembers Davis of her second TKO victory. “I tried to muster up all the energy I had and I was going to keep swinging until the ref pulled me off or the time was called. In the past, I’ve tried to pick my punches more, but watching a lot of UFC fights, some of the guys in there just can’t stop swinging, so that was going through my head.”

Davis’ final thoughts on her September stoppage of Nunes are precisely why she will be a fan favorite and a tough test for Kaufman. “I like fighters that are aggressive; those are my favorite fighters to fight,” admits Davis, who knows from experience she won’t have to worry about Kaufman not coming forward swinging. “I like them to come out, like me, and you just want to strike and just want to smash each other. It makes it exciting for the fans and it makes it exciting for me as a fighter. I think that’s what makes me better as a fighter is having someone who is pushing me constantly.”

At the Nationwide Arena, Davis will get a chance for some nearly five years in the making revenge against Kaufman, who served Davis her first loss in her first professional fight. The 26-year old KO queen from Victoria, British Colombia, Canada is an impressive 14-1, with her lone loss coming in her second Strikeforce title defense via third round armbar to Marloes Coenen. This bout will double as the biggest opportunity in Davis’ career, with a belt looming as well as competing in a perfect litmus test for her evolved abilities as a cagefighter against her first opponent, who just so happens to be one of the pound-for-pound best female fighters on the planet.

“She’s a great fighter in there, obviously, anyone can tell that,” affirms Davis. “She’s got incredible boxing standup and she’s adding more and more kicks into her game. She’s one of those fighters who is constantly pushing forward too. It is going to be who can manipulate their game more or change the angles, so they will be able to capitalize on that with their strengths. Being that she was a past title holder, it is going to see how far I am up those rankings. Personally for me, it will be good to see how much I have progressed as a fighter. Not even that we’re just fighting for number 1 contendership, but I’m almost more excited to see how I have progressed technique wise.”

To prepare for the rematch, Davis has been splitting time between the Great White North and a couple very reputable establishments in the Sunshine State. Davis’ main gym is in her home Port Colborne with Master Dayboll, who is a highly decorated martial artist and a BJJ black belt under Royler Gracie. For her past few camps, Davis has been in Florida training her ground with world renowned BJJ black belt Pablo Popovitch, as well as her standup with the pro fighters at The Armory, including UFC lightweight star Edson Barboza. It’s an illustrious cast and crew of trainers that in every way are making Davis a top contender at bantamweight.

“It’s been great, especially when you have such strong opponents coming up with great standup,” says Davis. “A lot of these guys from Brazil have incredible kickboxing, Muay Thai and have incredible cage control. It’s so funny how they can fine tune you out there. You don’t realize, maybe I can shift my weight this way or step a little more to the outside – I love it. I even try to work my wrestling out there. I’m working a lot off my back. You want to be on top doing ground and pound, but we are constantly working on transitioning and working on my positioning. With these guys they can put you in those positions that you don’t want to be in, but working on those bad positions is how you get better. It’s always been a main focus for me, my Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and I think I will be stronger in that area. It’s something I’m definitely going to try and exploit.”

This Saturday, a number one contender will emerge from a battle between two bantamweight bulls: Kaufman and Davis. “I see this fight ending by ground and pound,” estimates Davis, who wouldn’t get overshadowed in 2012 again with a ferocious finish over a former foe. “Maybe that’s because that’s how I want to win because that’s how she got me. She got me in mount position with ground and pound, so that’s how I want to be in the top control position – and just smash.”

In the fight game, no phrase has been quoted more often and spoken more truth than “everyone’s got a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” For the past six years in MMA, arguably, no woman has proven more that the aforementioned quote is as applicable to female fighters as it is to males than Sarah Kaufman. This should be (and is) an ever present concern for all active Strikeforce women’s bantamweight fighters because, simply put, Kaufman hits hard and hits a lot. Multiply that by time, practice, and past results, and it equates to this Canadian KO machine only getting better at what she does best, and she wants her title back.

“I think my confidence has gotten better as it has happened,” admits Kaufman when asked about her knockout power. “Going into my first fight I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know if I could knock anyone out, I didn’t know if I could submit anyone, I didn’t have any idea what I was capable of. In my first fight, I got a clean knockout and she was out for quite a while. As soon as I landed the punch, I was like, ‘oh, Adam’s [Zugec, Kaufman’s coach] right. I can do this.’ The next fight when I got the TKO in the first, it was like this is getting better. With every fight it has kind of kept growing. Now, I do have some sort of knowledge that it is a part of me and I’m capable of doing that, but for me, it’s hard to kind of really grasp that knowledge that I can knock people out.”

From 2006 to 2009, Kaufman fought eight times with eight eerily similar KO/TKO finishes, and was granted the chance to beat up a new crop of female fighters in Strikeforce. In her following four fights, Kaufman continued to overwhelm her opponents with her staggering output of strikes, and won the first Strikeforce women’s bantamweight championship against Takayo Hashi. The numbers surrounding Kaufman’s relentless onslaught standing are almost difficult to understand. In her debut decision win over current champion Miesha Tate, Kaufman threw over 160 significant strikes back when Strikeforce’s female fighters competed at three 3 minute rounds. That’s utterly insane.

“When we are at ZUMA, we are doing a lot of pad work and the pad work isn’t about throwing single jabs or single crosses,” tells Kaufman. “It is about getting that mindset ingrained in you to throw 3,4,5,6, 7, 8 punch combinations to get your hands moving. Adam has always said, ‘if you can hit 4 or 8 punch combinations on the pads then in sparring or in a fight you might hit 1 or 2.’ Sometimes when you are getting in there you tighten up and you think too much and you don’t let your hands go. Partly, it is a matter of sheer repetitions, but I also like to push forward and when you push forward you might as well do something. The best way for them to not hit you, is for you to hit them faster and more often – that’s kind of the philosophy that’s taken over.”

In the fight fans’ world where strikers rule, Kaufman is queen.

At 14-1, the product of Zugec Ultimate Martial Arts (ZUMA) in her hometown of Victoria, British Colombia, Canada is gearing up for another title run this year. Originally, Kaufman won the coveted gold strap at 135 pounds in February 2010 and successfully defended the belt with her knockout slam of Roxanne Modaferri that July. Three months later, Kaufman suffered her lone defeat to submission ace Marloes Coenen via an armbar in the third round. In 2011, Kaufman rebounded from losing the Strikeforce title with two wins: a TKO over the well-traveled Megumi Yabushita in a smaller promotion and, in Kaufman’s return to Strikeforce, an impressive decision win over former title challenger Liz Carmouche in July.

“I was really excited to get off the shelf because I had been on the shelf for a while,” explains Kaufman. “I wanted to get another win back in Strikeforce, after my only loss and losing the title to Marloes. To be back under the banner, it was an important fight because Liz had done really well against Marloes when she stepped up to fight her. I wanted to make a really strong impression with a dominating good fight that was crowd pleasing. You want to make sure you can get a win outside the organization and that’s great, but ultimately you want to be on the winning track inside the company you have fought for for so long and have held their title. There were a lot of things going on in that fight and I think I dealt with them well. I try not to let anything get to me too much. A fight is a fight whether there are five people watching or a million people watching. I always fight the same way and really try to make sure I can get that win and keep it entertaining and have fun while I’m doing it.”

The bout itself was really a tale of two stories, in which the first ended at the start of the second round. The initial five minutes were competitive, with the bigger, seemingly more powerful, former United States Marine Carmouche trying to push the action against the fence, where Kaufman can’t work her never-ending punch combinations as well. For Kaufman, the opening period was part of a feeling out process to test how she could handle Carmouche’s strength and both she and her heralded coaches liked that answer. Once the second round began, Kaufman raised the intensity, poured on her characteristic standup barrage, and clearly won the later rounds.

“I think my coach Adam Zugec and Greg Jackson were saying to me in the corner that this is really the time that I can let loose,” remembers Kaufman. “Knowing that I have the conditioning and cardio to push that pace and knowing how the first round went and how she wasn’t overpowering me and knowing that I was able to open up more and land harder shots and not be as concerned about getting stalled on the cage. I’m always happy with a win. I always want a knockout or a submission if it is there. Preferably, I would rather punch into submission than go for something else. I would have liked to have had a finish. I would have liked to have opened up even more than I did. Sometimes in my head, I’m opening up more than I am, so I have been really working on that. I really don’t think I’ve hit someone with my full power yet. That’s something I want to do in this upcoming fight.”

Up next for Kaufman is a chance to return to title contention in a number one contender matchup against Alexis Davis. On the undercard of the highly anticipated championship bout between challenger “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey and current belt owner Miesha “Takedown” Tate, the top ranked Canadian duo of Kaufman and Davis will square off to decide who will get first crack at the winner of the main event. The well-rounded 11-4 Davis is far from unfamiliar to Kaufman, as the two fought roughly five years prior and Kaufman walked away the victor via ground and pound in the third. There is great potential for fireworks from these two because of their history, the opportunity this win will bring, and their desire to come forward looking to scrap.

“In the first fight with Alexis, I had only a couple fights and that was her first fight, and she’s game and she’s been game since our first fight,” says Kaufman. “When you look at her last fight with Amanda Nunes, she took some really hard shots and she’ll keep coming forward. That’s exciting to me. I’m looking at this fight like she’s going to come to fight, and I’ll be upset if she doesn’t. I’m looking at this fight like Alexis is tough, she is willing to throw strikes to get to where she wants to be, and I just want to keep striking on the feet or on the ground – I don’t care where it is. I like the thought of having a fight like that and having a fight that fans will hopefully be able to say that was awesome, explosive, and exciting, and that these are the girls that should be fighting for the title. The title fight could be great or it could be a grinder, with Ronda in question and not a lot of technical striking between the two of them. I am interested in seeing what happens in that fight, but I would love for our fight to overshadow them.”

In preparation for Davis, the 26-year old is busy training at the previously mentioned ZUMA gym under the tutelage of the owner and head instructor Zugec. It is probably easier to mention what martial arts Zugec hasn’t studied, as he has traveled and trained under the legendary likes of many, including Erik Paulson and the Machado brothers. Kaufman has been a fixture at ZUMA since its inception when she was 17 and she currently works there as an instructor. Kaufman is also a member of Team Jackson, and she often trains with Julie Kedzie, who fought Davis last July. So if one strategic MMA mind wasn’t enough, Kaufman has both Zugec and Jackson working together in her corner, but, naturally, the presiding voice is that of her longtime mentor.

“Adam doesn’t have to yell as much as some other coaches do because we understand each other,” asserts Kaufman. “I understand what he wants from me and he understands what I’m trying to do. If he sees something in particular that I need to throw because she’s open for it, then he’ll call that out and I’ll try to do it right away because that’s the time to do it. I am thinking about what I’m throwing, but I always want to keep that pace up as long as I’m feeling good. I like to throw combinations and I like to let loose, and in doing that I like getting hit. It’s fun getting hit and hitting people back, seeing how they react. I love seeing people start to break and start to get mentally tired because I know that I can keep going and I know that they can’t. That’s what really fuels me to really let loose and really open up. I want to go back to those earlier fights like against Alexis, where I threw something like 27 punches without her really throwing anything in return. I need to get back to that. I need to put even more pressure on. I think I may have some surprises coming into this fight in how I’m going to be fighting. I think the big difference in this fight is that I know Alexis is going to come to trade some strikes. That in itself will give me the opportunity to showcase what I’m really good at and what has gotten me this far.”

On March 3rd in Columbus, Ohio, the former champ will come forward throwing strikes with her sights set on the surging Davis and another shot at the bantamweight crown. “Fans need to make sure they are watching Showtime Extreme so they are watching this fight live because it is a fight they are not going to want to miss live,” declares Kaufman, who wants to emphatically end Davis’ Strikeforce winning streak and, once again, earn herself that spot at the top of the mountain. “It’s going to have a lot of back and forth action, and I will be looking for that knockout – on the feet or on the ground. That’s what I want to give the fans, that’s what I want to say about this title shot, and I want it to make a statement.”

If on Saturday night, Kaufman goes 15-1 with 11 TKOs, then whoever wins between Rousey and Tate better start working on a real solid plan because Kaufman’s punches are coming for their mouth next.

On December 16th, 2010, with one minute remaining in a hotly contested five round WEC lightweight championship bout that would also be the final fight of the company’s storied tenure, arguably the most sensational athletic move was attempted and successfully delivered: the ‘Showtime kick.’

After 24 minutes of back and forth action with the title on the line, then challenger Anthony Pettis seemingly defied all known laws of physics by leaping towards the cage, spring boarding off of that cage with his right foot, and delivering a mid-air whip kick with that same right foot, which caught then champion Benson Henderson in the face. It didn’t knock the champion out, but it did drop Henderson and was the declarative statement that Pettis won the epic contest.

About the only person in the entirety of the MMA community who is not still hypnotized by that captivating moment is the man who did it. “I don’t want the ‘Showtime kick’ and the WEC belt to be the highlight of my career,” affirms Pettis, who understandably is working towards a long, successful career as a professional fighter, and not resting on his 23-year old self’s accomplishments – as great as they were. “I want to be the UFC champ. I want to do well in this and I believe in myself. I want to show the fans that I am a skillful fighter and I can be the best at 155.”

If UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones had the most impressive year in MMA history in 2011, then there’s a case to be made that Pettis had the second best in 2010. Coming off a split decision loss to Bart Palaszewski at WEC 45, which was also the first loss of his career, Pettis entered 2010 a relative no name 155er who found himself being followed around by a yet-to-debut documentary television show while preparing for his third WEC bout. At WEC 47 against Danny Castillo, Pettis scored an opening round head kick knockout, which earned him “Knockout of the Night” and provided a scintillating ending to the World of Jenks MTV show. But that was only the beginning to his year, as Pettis would win three more fights, a “Submission of the Night”, a “Knockout of the Night”, and was crowned the last WEC lightweight champion.

An added stipulation to the Pettis/Henderson bout was that the winner would face the winner of the UFC lightweight championship fight between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard at UFC 125. The title fight ended in a draw, which earned Edgar and Maynard a rematch with each other, but left Pettis without a dance partner for the foreseeable future. Instead of waiting for the eventual winner of Edgar/Maynard (which was finally decided last October), Pettis chose to take on another top contender. Long story short, six months later, Pettis debuted in the UFC against veteran grinder Clay “The Carpenter” Guida and suffered a unanimous decision loss.

“It sucked,” tells Pettis. “Going from fighting pretty much every two months to having six months off – I didn’t like it at all. A lot of stuff changed. Having Mr. Andrew Jenks follow me around, my popularity definitely went up, and having six months off I didn’t have anything to look forward to. My fight camp and I decided I should take a fight and luckily we did because I wouldn’t have been fighting until this year. Taking that fight didn’t turn out how I was hoping, but there were a lot of factors – time off, gameplan, and a lot of stuff factored into why I lost that fight.”

It wasn’t the UFC debut Pettis expected, but he is a professional, and four months later he was inside the Octagon for a second time looking for that first win. “The biggest thing for me was to not get another loss,” says Pettis, who took on the heavy-handed Jeremy Stephens at UFC 136, a bout which did not go as expected either. “Going into the Stephens fight, we were expecting a standup war. He was talking big stuff like he was going to knock me out and welcome me properly to the UFC, so I was expecting a standup fight. It didn’t turn out that way.”

No one would have guessed the ultra, dynamic striking of Pettis and the 14 knockouts, power punching of “Lil’ Heathen” would end up in a wrestling match in Houston. “He goes and takes me down in the first round, twice I think, but I wasn’t expecting him to shoot on me – I was expecting him to throw big bombs,” divulges Pettis, who didn’t start the grapple-thon, but definitely ended it by showing off his takedowns in the later rounds. “He takes me down and he goes up on the judges’ score cards right away. In the corner, Duke [Roufus] told me, ‘if you can take him down then take him down and grind him out.’ In the second and third round, I came out and I did just that.”

Although, 2011 was slow for the Milwaukee, Wisconsin native, going 1-1 in two wrestling matches in the UFC, 2012 is shaping up to be very exciting. At UFC 144, in the UFC’s first event in Japan in over a decade, Pettis faces five-time Submission of the Night winner Joe Lauzon at the Saitama Super Arena. The submission magician from Massachusetts is entering the bout on a two fight win streak capped off by a huge 47 second upset victory over Melvin Guillard at UFC 136. At 20-6, the Ultimate Fighter season 5 alum is in the mix for a title shot, and Pettis knows a win over him would put him back near the top of the lightweight pack hunting for gold.

“He’s a very intelligent fighter and very dangerous,” says Pettis. “He’s got some good striking, he’s getting better all the time, he’s been around a long time, he’s got the experience factor on me, and he’s very good on the ground. He’s one of those fighters who is dangerous everywhere. I wanted someone of his caliber and of his skill set. He’s coming off a huge win against Guillard. He’s going to put me right back where I need to be. A win over Lauzon will be huge for my career. Coming off of a win you have better mental preparation going into a fight. You’re not doubting yourself, you’re not thinking about your last loss. I’m coming off of a win, so I’m better mentally. I know that I can go out there and do what I usually do. I can’t go out there and play it safe. I need to go out there and bring the fight and break his will.”

The type of fight that only “Showtime” can bring is a uniquely flashy, but effective, one that is fan-friendly and knockout-centric. It’s a style that is as atheistically pleasing as it is deadly for Pettis’ opponents. Nevertheless, Pettis fights with a controlled chaos, as seemingly high risk maneuvers like the ‘Showtime kick’ are actually thoughtfully practiced with legendary kickboxing coach Roufus, and they come naturally to Pettis because of his background in traditional martial arts like Taekwondo (3rd degree black belt).

“People ask me all the time, ‘am I trying to go out there and be ‘Showtime’ or am I trying to go out there and show off a new kick?’ Nah, this is the way I practice,” states Pettis. “I practice flashy because I’ve been doing it my whole life. Jump kicks, spin kicks, I’ve been doing them my whole life and they’re second nature to me. For a boxer to throw a 1-2 is nothing for them because they’ve been doing it their whole life. For me to throw a spin kick is nothing to me because I’ve been doing it my whole life. A jump spin kick has been something I’ve using in my whole martial arts career and it’s just something that carries over into my fighting. When someone is getting ready to fight me as an opponent, they definitely have to bring in some sparring partners who throw crazy moves. But the thing is I have very good basics, which allow me to go out there and throw spin kicks. I don’t just go out there and throw spin kicks and spin kicks and spin kicks. I set them up with a 1-2 and a low kick, mixing in with a high kick, and I’ll see the opening and then I’ll go for it. The kicks that people have seen in the WEC are kicks that I’ve done my whole life – the spin kicks, the capoeira kicks – that all comes second nature.”

For the training required to make himself elite, Pettis doesn’t even need to leave his hometown of Milwaukee because of Roufusport Mixed Martial Arts Academy. Within the hallowed walls are the gym’s namesake, Roufus, who is both head coach and striking coach, as well as a cast of steadily growing up-and-coming talent like UFC featherweight Erik Koch. One of the newest members of the fight team is the highly decorated, former 2x NCAA Division I National Champion wrestler from the University of Missouri, Ben Askren, who is 9-0 as a pro in MMA. Also, Pettis’ younger brother, Sergio, is a 3-0 flyweight on the Roufusport team.

“It’s huge,” says Pettis about the motivation he gets from training with his brother. “For me and my brother training together we have a bond, we’re both pushing each other to the limit because we want the best for each other, but we’re competitive. I don’t want to lose, and I don’t want my little brother whooping my ass, so I have to stay on top of my game. I know he looks up to me, so I know I have to do the right things and set the right examples.”

Lastly, out of all the fans that he earned from the TV show, the exciting finishes, the kick, and the title, Pettis’ biggest fan didn’t get to see any of that happen because she’s only seven months old: his daughter Aria. “You hear it all the time that when you have kids that they’re your ultimate motivation, but it doesn’t really make sense until you have one and you see,” says Pettis, who is going to have to work harder than ever to outdo what he’s already done, but with his daughter in his corner he’s ready for the task. “I have a baby girl, she’s amazing, and I’m more focused than ever.”

On February 25th at UFC 144, Pettis is bringing “Showtime” to Japan and Lauzon better be prepared for that arsenal of creativity. “I have a fight style that is different from everyone else’s and from what everyone has ever seen,” asserts Pettis, who wants to eclipse his previous WEC accomplishments and the best way to start doing that is a win over Lauzon. “I think coming out here and having a great performance shows that I’m one step closer to my goals. I’ve got the basics, I’ve got the flash, and I’m trying to be the most well-rounded fighter in the UFC.”

Who knows, maybe it’s possible to jump off the cage into a flying triangle choke, back flip kick. If anyone is going to do it, Pettis can.

Every journey starts with a single step. For one UFC bantamweight, putting that one foot in front of the other began when he was only five years old, and a quarter of a century later he is still making strides in his quest towards martial arts glory. In the more immediate future, this life-long fighter’s goal is to be ranked in the top 10 of his division. To achieve that elite status, he will have to travel well over 5,000 miles to Saitama, Japan and defeat Takeya Mizugaki inside the Octagon at UFC 144. After 25 years of waking up and taking those steps, a few extra thousand miles is all in a day’s work for Chris Cariaso.

“I’ve always loved this sport,” tells Cariaso. “I think that’s what sets me apart from a lot of other fighters. For me, to get up in the morning and go train is something that I love to do. Even if I wasn’t fighting, I would still get up in the morning and go train. I haven’t fallen out of love with it. As a teacher and as a martial artist, I just want to go out there and share my passion for the sport and the martial arts. I wouldn’t have ever seen myself doing anything different. It’s something that I like doing and I wouldn’t change it for anything.”

At 30 years old, Cariaso might be a relatively new name for UFC fight fans, but he is far from new to combat sports competition. In January 2011, Cariaso made his Octagon debut on the UFC: Fight for the Troops 2 card with a unanimous decision victory over Will Campuzano. Prior to that, “Kamikaze” fought tough competition in the WEC, Strikeforce, and EliteXC, which earned Cariaso his overall 12-3 professional record. Before MMA, Cariaso had distinguished himself as a champion in boxing, Sanshou, Muay Thai, and kickboxing.

“All that experience, if you add it up together I have almost 50 fights,” explains Cariaso. “Just being in the ring that much, it gives me that ring savvy, especially when it goes deeper into the fight. It makes me that more experienced to know what it’s like to go into those deep waters. Fortunately, I have that experience and now I’m able to use it in the cage.”

Another experience that will help him in his upcoming bout with Mizugaki: Cariaso’s Birmingham, England win over hometown hero Vaughan Lee. “I felt like the pressure was on him for the fight and there was no pressure on me – I just had to go out there and fight,” says Cariaso of his most recent tangle in the cage in hostile territory as he played the spoiler to Lee’s UFC debut in the town he grew up and trains in. “It’s a good experience knowing there’s not much pressure on you. I know the fans won’t like me at first because I’m fighting one of the hometown guys. By the end of the fight I hope that the fans like me.”

As the opening matchup at UFC 138, the English crowd was already whipped up into a frenzy, hollering soccer-style chants in favor of Lee, but that energy fueled Cariaso too. “When the crowd starts cheering, when I can hear the crowd, and when the action is picking up – it makes me what to pick up my action too,” remembers the Californian, who showed off his ever improving ground game, especially in the later rounds when he took control of the fight. “My Achilles heel is that I always start slow, but I always finish strong. Coming out of the first round, I knew I was definitely behind on the cards. I knew that in the second and third round I was going to pick up the pace and really put it on him.”

The native Californian is set to rumble in the “Land of the Rising Sun” at UFC 144 against one of their best 135ers in Mizugaki. At 15-6-2, Mizugaki has become a stalwart in American cagefighting with five fights in the WEC, including a “Fight of the Night” title fight against Miguel Torres at WEC 40, and he is currently 2-1 in the UFC. Also, Mizugaki is coming off, arguably, his most impressive victory stateside with a second round TKO finish of Cole Escovedo at UFC 135 last September. For Cariaso to crack that illustrious top 10 ranking, he will need to beat Mizugaki, and he is willing to travel to wherever that fight may be.

“It’s more of a draw to fight Takeya, and fighting in Japan is secondary,” states Cariaso. “I’ve always kind of wanted to fight in Japan in the back of my mind, but it has never been a main priority. Definitely fighting a guy who has been in the top 10 and who can propel me in the rankings is the draw. My goal for this year is to be ranked in the top 10 and get my name out there. Fighting him is definitely the priority.”

On paper, this should be an exciting fight for the Japanese fans, with Cariaso’s deep roots in striking traditions and Mizugaki’s prevalence for punching. “We both like to stand up, with him liking to box a little more, and I like to kick a little more, but I’ve been working on my boxing for this, so you’ll see me showcasing my hands a little bit,” says Cariaso, who also knows he needs to be ready for three rounds of action, as both fighters tend to go the distance and are rarely finished themselves. “15 minutes or 25 minutes, I’ve got it in me. Just knowing that he’s a tough guy, I’m making sure that if it comes down to it I’m going to out tough him – that’s the bottom line. When I’m thinking about preparing for this fight, I want to be stronger, faster, and more technical than him.”

In preparation for this bout, Cariaso has been training in Tucson, Arizona with UFC featherweight George Roop and Ed West. Cariaso has also been making trips back to San Francisco, California to put in work with his standup coach, Neungsiam Samphusri, and his Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach, BJJ blackbelt Alex Crispim. After all these years of putting time in each day at the gym, he focuses on small, but consistent, progression as a martial artist.

“It’s about quality training,” asserts Cariaso. “Trying to find the best guys to train with all of the time. For me, I look for that 1% improvement every day. That’s what I’m looking for and that’s how I get better. It’s not a big goal; I’m not looking for a 1000% improvement – just 1% every day. If I can get a little bit better with my right hand or a little bit slicker with my armbar. That’s what I’m looking for to grow.”

Cariaso knows that without one special person in his life backing him, he wouldn’t be able to make those strides in the sport he loves: his wife. “Thank God, my wife is awesome and helps take care of the kids while I go away to train, which gives me the opportunities to go out there to be the best,” exclaims Cariaso, noting that the support he gets at home is what propels him in training and allows him to be a full-time fighter. “We’re not officially married, but we’ve been together for 12 years. We’ve been together a long time. We have a house, two kids, and a business together, so we’re definitely in it for the long haul (laughs).”

On February 25th at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, Cariaso will clash with Mizugaki to stake their individual claim in the top 10 of the UFC’s bantamweight division. “I expect a battle, I expect a war,” states Cariaso, who knows a win, maybe even a stoppage win, over Mizugaki will be a huge step in the right direction for “Kamikaze” on his path to UFC glory. “I feel like I’m one of the most prepared guys in the division. Whether the fight goes one round or five rounds, I’m always prepared to go. But this time, I’m going to look for the finish because that’s somewhere that I’ve got to showcase my skills; so the fans will see me looking for the finish and they’re going to see an exciting fight.”

Here’s a quick quiz for the readers out there: guess which weight class produced the following averaged output per round at UFC 136? 60 strikes thrown and at least two takedowns attempted? Did you guess “heavyweight”? Probably not; maybe more like lightweight.

Yet the old days of slow, plodding heavies slothfully slugging it out inside the Octagon are long forgotten. There is a new breed of athletic heavyweights taking over that are just as ready to mix it up for three rounds as their fellow fighters in the smaller divisions. The stat line in question is from one of the most recent additions to the UFC’s next generation of gigantic gladiators: Stipe Miocic.

At 6’4” and just shy of 240 pounds, the Ohio native with the Croatian name took to the UFC cage for the very first time that Saturday night in early October against iron-chinned veteran Joey Beltran. Prior to his debut, Miocic was an undefeated 6-0 as a professional in MMA and had won a local title in his last fight with a second round submission via leg kicks. In his first matchup inside the Octagon, Miocic was thrown to the wolves against “The Mexicutioner”. At the time, Beltran was 13-5, never been stopped by strikes, only submitted once (over four years earlier), and was known for his love of a good ol’ fashioned brawl.

“When I got the call from the UFC and they said ‘Joey Beltran’, I was real excited because he’s a tough dude,” remembers Miocic. “It was a real tough fight for my first fight, but it was awesome and I loved every minute of it. He had never been knocked out, which was all I heard, so I prepared myself for three rounds no matter what. I was nervous. I definitely got those ‘jitters’. But I got the win, so I’m happy. I didn’t start out the fight the way I wanted probably because of the nerves. I felt a lot better in the third round and felt fresh. Overall, I feel good about the performance, but wish I could’ve done better. But I’m happy for the first time being in there.”

If that unanimous decision performance was Miocic affected by the infamous first-time Octagon jitters, then Heaven help who gets into the cage when he’s even keel. Miocic went toe-to-toe with “The Mexicutioner” for all three rounds, which is self-evident on their strike counts (180 for Miocic, 182 for Beltran). Also, Miocic showed off his ground game with several takedowns and guard passes. Besides never scrapping inside the Octagon before, Miocic had never been to a third round before with all of his previous fights ending by stoppage in the opening two rounds (five TKOs, one Sub).

“I wasn’t used to it, but I caught onto it quick (laughs),” jokes Miocic about still trading punches into the final round. “In a perfect world, everyone you fight gets knocked out in the first round, but that doesn’t happen when you have tough guys like Joey Beltran who keep coming. In that third round, I knew I had to keep moving, keep trying stuff, and keep trying to find a way to win – that’s what I did. In that third round, I learned a lot about what I need to do and how to get better in every aspect of the game. You have to have that heart to keep going and to not stop.”

Up next for the 29-year old, a showdown with the similarly undefeated Philip De Fries on the UFC on FUEL TV card. The submission specialist from Sunderland, England, made his Octagon debut against fellow countryman Rob Broughton at UFC 138. De Fries also tasted for the first time what it’s like to win a decision and even to fight in the third round in his entry bout in the UFC. De Fries is a high ranking purple belt in BJJ under Rodrigo Cabral with all seven of his wins outside of the UFC coming by the tapping variety, with six of them coming in the first round.

“I know he’s from the UK, 6’5″, and he’s a grappler,” says Miocic sizing up his opponent. “Tough, big dude, strong probably, good grappler on the ground. That’s his forte, so hopefully I can keep it standing. I think you always work on everything going into a fight, but depending on the guy, you work a little more on his tendencies. I have an attacking style, so I’m ready for wherever the fight goes and to push the pace there.”

In preparation for his second UFC bout, Miocic has been busy training at his home gym, StrongStyle MMA, alongside notable pros like Brian Rogers, Chris Lozano, and, UFC veteran Forrest “The Meat Cleaver” Petz. On top of that, Miocic got a surprise call from a well-known California gym to workout with one heavyweight he knows can push him like no other. “I actually went out for two weeks to train at Alliance with Phil Davis and Joey Beltran. They have a great camp out there. It’s been a great camp overall for this fight.”

Besides great training and the confidence from a big win against a stalwart like Beltran, Miocic has a deceptive amount of experience for only being a pro for two years. For his ground game, Miocic is a former NCAA Division I wrestler for Cleveland State University. For his standup, Miocic is a former Golden Gloves champion, and he started training MMA back in college. As if that wasn’t enough of an athletic acumen, Miocic played collegiate baseball, which he believes helps with his overall mental toughness.

“You always have to be focused in sports,” says Miocic. “When you’re 0-2 swinging at the plate, you have to stay focused looking for that curveball or a fastball in the dirt. You always have to be focused and see what’s coming at you. It’s the same as in fighting.”

On February 15th in Omaha, Nebraska, someone’s “0” has got to go when two undefeated heavyweights clash. “I’ve gotten a lot better, I keep getting better, and I’ve gotten a lot stronger in every aspect of the game,” asserts Miocic, who wants to show UFC fans that the slugfest with Beltran was just the beginning and that De Fries needs to be ready for even more. “I don’t care who you are, if you’re not nervous you’re not ready. I’ll be nervous, but I think I’ll be okay going into this fight. I’m grateful for this opportunity and, hopefully, I just keep winning.”

If he produces more stat lines like a fighter half his size, then Miocic’s spot among the top of his division will never be in question.