With the news that one female bout was being pulled from an upcoming Strikeforce card, news of another upcoming fight surfaced today. Former Women’s Welterweight (135 lbs) Strikeforce champ Sarah Kaufman (13-1) will return to the cage to face Liz “Girl-Rilla” Carmouche (5-1) at the upcoming Strikeforce Challengers 17 event next month in Las Vegas.
The Strikeforce Challengers: Voelker vs. Bowling III event is scheduled to take place on July 22 at The Pearl at the Palms Casino & Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event is headlined by a welterweight grudge match between Roger Bowling and Bobby Voelker.
Kaufman officially announced the bout on Twitter (@mmasarah) and on her official webpage SarahKaufman.ca.
From Kaufman’s webpage
This is a fight that was previously in the works, then cancelled when Liz stepped in to fight Marloes in March. It’s a great fight for the women’s 135lb division and a win would put me right in line for another title shot (at least I think it would). I’m excited for this fight and that Strikeforce has decided to put on this fight for the fans.
I’m going to come to fight and I hope Liz is as well. I’m always looking for a KO on the feet or on the ground, but regardless I want an action packed fight – not a fight against the cage. Let’s hope Liz is planning for the same thing 🙂
If you’re able to make it to Vegas on July 22 it will be worth the trip!!! I LOVE fighting 😀
Kaufman won twelve straight, including winning the inaugural Women’s Welterweight title against Takaya Hashi in February of last year. The Canadian would go on to defend it successfully after knocking out opponent Roxanne Modafferi in July with a body slam. Kaufman would suffer her first defeat at the hands of current champ, Marloes Coenen in October of last year. Kaufman bounced back with a win against Japanese fighter Megumi Yabushita at a local Canadian event in British Columbia last April.
As noted in Kaufman’s post, Carmouche had stepped in for the former champ against Marloes Coenen last March at the Feijao vs. Henderson event. ‘Girl-Rilla’ would dominate Coenen through most of four rounds of their title bout, until she was caught by a triangle choke and forced to tap for her first pro loss. Carmouche has earned three TKO stoppages, one submission victory, and has only gone to decision once in her career.