Sarah Kaufman (15-1) will finally get her shot to reclaim the Strikeforce Bantamweight Championship when she faces Ronda Rousey (5-0) on August 18th.MMAFighting.com first reported the date and location, San Diego, earlier this month.Rousey leapfrogged …
Sarah Kaufman (15-1) will finally get her shot to reclaim the Strikeforce Bantamweight Championship when she faces Ronda Rousey (5-0) on August 18th.
MMAFighting.com first reported the date and location, San Diego, earlier this month.
Rousey leapfrogged Kaufman for the March title shot against Miesha Tate after calling out the champion, a much-talked-about topic.
Now, that is old news, and Kaufman will fight for the title.
The undefeated champion has been enjoying new heights of stardom since her March victory, ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange, various media appearences and most recently signing her first ever Topps trading card.
On August 18th, she will face her toughest challenger to date.
Kaufman is on a three-fight win streak after dropping the bantamweight title to Marloes Coenen two years ago. The longtime contender has finished over a third of her opponents. She would like nothing more than to derail the hype train of the champion in August in San Diego.
Here is the breakdown of the Strikeforce championship fight.
Which weight class is the most exciting? Questions like this are in constant flux. As we have seen over the years, some divisions get stronger while other get weaker, and that is why, for the purposes of this article, I will narrow it down to this year…
Which weight class is the most exciting? Questions like this are in constant flux. As we have seen over the years, some divisions get stronger while other get weaker, and that is why, for the purposes of this article, I will narrow it down to this year alone.
I took the liberty of figuring out how many KO/TKOs, submissions and decisions there have been in each weight class thus far. While that does not fully translate to which is more exciting to watch, because a decision does not equate to a boring fight, it does give me more information to work with in trying to rank the weight classes. People love finishes.
From UFC 142 on, which division has been the most exciting in the Ultimate Fighting Championship?
Sara McMann, The 2004 Olympic Games silver medalist in wrestling, is the next female star of mixed martial arts.Let’s back up a step or two and I will tell you why.The two biggest ingredients of being a star are the ability to perform at a high level a…
Sara McMann, The 2004 Olympic Games silver medalist in wrestling, is the next female star of mixed martial arts.
Let’s back up a step or two and I will tell you why.
The two biggest ingredients of being a star are the ability to perform at a high level and the ability to sell a fight. McMann, through her first five fights, has shown promise in both of those characteristics. However, there is more to it than that.
Fighters need a platform to reach a wider audience. While Bellator has some of the top women of lower weight classes fighting under their banner they do not promote them enough to showcase them. Go ask any casual MMA fan or a friend to see if he or she watched Jessica Aguilar fight Megumi Fujii.
Chances are he or she did not.
That leaves Strikeforce. And, unfortunately once again, they only have one weight class. Sure, you can technically say two, but the featherweight division is only Cyborg Santos and whatever cherry-picked opponent they pick out for her. Now, that she is on the sideline with the CSAC suspension that becomes even more irrelevant.
So, in order to become a star in women’s MMA you should be a bantamweight with Strikeforce in sight. Needless to say, McMann fits all of the qualifications.
No, she is not currently signed to Strikeforce but as she continues to shoot up the 135-pound ladder that time is nearing.
The former Olympian is 5-0 in MMA and will face off with Shayna Baszler at Invicta FC 2 on July 28th. Another difficult fight as she continues to hone her skills in the sport. But that is not the fight that will make her a star, or that everyone has their sights set on.
That fight is against Ronda Rousey, naturally. According to McMann, in an MMADiehards.com interview, Rousey refused their first fight back when both women were entering the sport.
My first pro fight, we were searching everywhere and I was offered a fight against Ronda at a catch-weight of 140 (pounds),” McMann said. “Monte (Cox) called me and I said I would take it because I really couldn’t find an opponent. I thought, ‘Another Olympic medalist, she’s going to step up to the plate.’ Then he called me back and said, ‘They’re really trying to talk her into it, her managers and her trainers, and she just keeps refusing the fight.’
The fight will have a definite appeal if marketed properly. Two Olympic medalists, Judo vs. Wrestling, undefeated streaks for both combatants and title being on the line highlight in-the-cage selling points. And then add in Rousey’s ability to sell the fight with her trash talk and a big fight it could be.
McMann is no slouch on the mic as well, but it is something that she chooses not to take part in. At least that is what she says right now. One has to imagine Rousey will offer plenty of ammunition to return fire with.
Most exciting of all is that McMann has the pedigree to push Rousey to the limits. If she is able to make the invincible champion look human, that will go a long way in the fan’s eyes win or lose.
A great backstory, a world-class athlete and the ability to compete with the division’s elite give her an instant credibility to sell to the crowds. As she continues to learn the other aspects of the sport she becomes more dangerous and a bigger threat to the current Strikeforce champion.
If she can climb to the top of the bantamweight ladder and get that fight then she has all the tools to become the next star of women’s MMA.
Summer is almost here.Sure, it already feels like it is 147 degrees outside with humidity at 100 percent but summer does not officially begin until June 20th.And from June 20th until September 21st, the last day of summer, fans will be treated to a lot…
Summer is almost here.
Sure, it already feels like it is 147 degrees outside with humidity at 100 percent but summer does not officially begin until June 20th.
And from June 20th until September 21st, the last day of summer, fans will be treated to a lot of fantastic MMA action from around the globe.
The UFC will hold nine events all by themselves during the summer schedule. Strikeforce will hold one event in July and a second in August. And of course, Bellator and other promotions will chip in during the three month period.
Even with the slew of injuries that have been sustained there are an incredible amount of fun fights coming your way. Yes, even at UFC 147.
Let’s take a peak at what is to come and try to keep you indoors in the comfort of your air conditioning and chilled beverages.
Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez is running out of options following his decision victory over nemesis Josh Thomson.After a close decision that some thought Thomson won, another bout with “The Punk” is feasible but highly u…
Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez is running out of options following his decision victory over nemesis Josh Thomson.
After a close decision that some thought Thomson won, another bout with “The Punk” is feasible but highly unlikely.
Everyone wants him to join the ranks of the deep UFC Lightweight division so that he can challenge for the championship and fight the best the sport has to offer. Unfortunately, he is hamstrung by his Showtime contract.
While he has dispatched of top fighters such as Shinya Aoki and Tatsuya Kawajiri, and while other top lightweights such as Michael Chandler are under contract to other organizations, there are still fights for him outside of the UFC that are possible to achieve.
Here is a look at five fights the Strikeforce champion can still take that do not involve Josh Thomson.
The UFC will not let a star already under Zuffa contract slip by for someone else to capitalize on. That’s the biggest reason of all that Ronda Rousey will fight inside the eight-sided cage in the near future.Dana White’s feelings on women’s MMA has de…
The UFC will not let a star already under Zuffa contract slip by for someone else to capitalize on. That’s the biggest reason of all that Ronda Rousey will fight inside the eight-sided cage in the near future.
Dana White‘s feelings on women’s MMA has definitely changed over the years, most noticeably since the acquisition of Strikeforce. He has gone from a hard-line stance of saying women would never grace the Octagon to saying, most recently at the UFC on FX post-fight press conference, that one day it could happen.
That is not to suggest the UFC would immediately create a 135-pound division. While the depth of the divisions in women’s MMA are in the early stages of growth, the UFC will not let Rousey’s star burn out while there is ample opportunity to profit from it.
There are still hurdles, most noticeably Sarah Kaufman’s attempt to dethrone the champion. Rousey will need the victory to keep her marketability intact with the unforgiving casual fan. There will be plenty of options for fights to sell the fans if Rousey is able to retain her title.
When Gina Carano was a free agent years ago, Zuffa entertained the idea of putting on Carano vs. Cris Cyborg on a WEC card. The company is not opposed to having singular fights that draw attention to a card.
The fight most are looking at would be a super-fight between the bantamweight champion and featherweight champion Cris Cyborg.
There will still be interest in a Miesha Tate rematch if she can pick up a victory in her next fight. The trash talk between the two was as good as in any other recent fight. Even former Strikeforce champion Marloes Coenen called Rousey out after her win in Invicta FC. And let’s not dismiss the long-shot possibility of Gina Carano returning to the cage to fight.
With Invicta FC growing the sport by giving female fighters an organization of their own, the UFC could easily use it to cherry-pick future opponents for Rousey.
Zuffa has already put in an effort to market Rousey on UFC events. That is not by happenstance.
Rousey has been appearing at various big fights for the UFC, including FOX events, and has gone on an extensive media tour—all with minimal mentions or marketing for the Strikeforce brand itself. If Zuffa did not have a plan for Rousey post-Strikeforce, they would not be putting their resources behind her.
They recognize a star when they see one.
Fans and media continually pester the UFC President with questions about if Rousey will fight for him—even suggesting she headlines a future FOX card. Do not be deceived by the arguments of the division being shallow. Rousey will grace the UFC cage as long as she retains a perfect record and her popularity continues to rise with the casual fan.
She is the biggest female star in MMA currently, but more importantly, she is the next big star in all of MMA. The UFC will not let that slip away. Fans will see her talents on their TV screens, as she will don the most famous organizational logo on her fight gloves in the very near future.
Sara McMann, The 2004 Olympic Games silver medalist in wrestling, is the next female star of mixed martial arts.