Filed under: StrikeforceSarah Kaufman hears the same questions over and over these days. It gets a little tiresome at times, but she knows she brought it on herself. She’s the squeaky wheel who demanded some grease on live television.
Sarah Kaufman hears the same questions over and over these days. It gets a little tiresome at times, but she knows she brought it on herself. She’s the squeaky wheel who demanded some grease on live television.
“It was one of those things that needed to be said at the time,” she told MMA Fighting this week. “If I was in the same situation again I would do it again, for sure.”
By it, of course, she means the moment right after her knockout slam of Roxanne Modafferi in her last Strikeforce 135-pound title defense when she took to the mic and called for her employer to stop relegating her fights to the small-time Challengers cards and start giving her the respect a champion deserves.
“I think I deserve it,” she said into the camera. “Put me on there.”
Filed under: StrikeforceStrikeforce 135-pound women’s champion Sarah Kaufman will get her wish when she takes on Marloes Coenen on the main card of Strikeforce’s next big Showtime event on October 9 in San Jose, and she has no regrets about what she ha…
Strikeforce 135-pound women’s champion Sarah Kaufman will get her wish when she takes on Marloes Coenen on the main card of Strikeforce’s next big Showtime event on October 9 in San Jose, and she has no regrets about what she had to do to make it happen.
“I think it’s important for fighters to stand up for what they deserve,” Kaufman said on Friday afternoon’s Strikeforce media call, responding to questions about her post-fight remarks following a victory over Roxanne Modafferi on a Strikeforce Challengers card in July.
“You don’t want to make your organization look bad, but if your issue needs to be said, I’m happy I said what I said and I think my fight kind of backed that up,” Kaufman added. “Whether it was me talking or the fans reacting or the fight itself getting highlighted on ESPN, I think they all worked together in helping push the division and have a title [fight] on the main card.”
That title fight pits the undefeated Kaufman against a Dutch challenger who posted a loss in her last outing – a 145-pound title scrap against Strikeforce champ Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos – only don’t try telling Coenen that she doesn’t deserve back-to-back title shots in different divisions.
(Carano and Cyborg: Godmothers of the game. / Photo courtesy of SI.com)
By CagePotato.com contributor Jim Genia
First there was the Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution, which empowered the women of the United States with the right to vote. The…
(Carano and Cyborg: Godmothers of the game. / Photo courtesy of SI.com)
By CagePotato.com contributor Jim Genia
First there was the Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution, which empowered the women of the United States with the right to vote. The Sexual Revolution of the 1960s followed, providing them with birth control and shifting values, and liberating them from the social constraints of a rigid society. Then came Gina Carano vs. Cris “Cyborg” Santos, which showed that when you put two well-trained ladies in a cage and pay them to fight, they can really beat the crap out of each other (or at least one can thoroughly whoop the other).
Yes, great strides have been made in equality for the fairer sex, and thanks to the likes of Carano and Cyborg, this equality has stretched into the realm of mixed martial arts. Now, there are impending all-female tournaments scheduled for Strikeforce and Bellator, and Sarah Kaufman’s recent violent KO over Roxanne Modafferimade ESPN’s “SportCenter”. Whether you love it or hate it, the female version of limited-rules combat is here to stay. So here’s a look back at some of the greatest moments in MMA herstory. (Get it? “His-story”, “her-story”? Yuk-yuk.)
On May 31, 2008, EliteXC broke the live network-television seal with “Primetime”, a CBS-broadcast event that saw Kimbo Slice smash James Thompson’s ear, Robbie Lawler poke Scott Smith in the eye, and an overweight Carano batter a smaller Kaitlin Young. Overweight? That’s right, for the first-ever female bout on free TV, ultra-popular fighter and former American Gladiator Carano failed to make the contracted 140-pound weight limit, coming in instead at 144.5 pounds. This wasn’t the first time the “Face of Women’s MMA” had failed to make weight. In fact, EliteXC had tailor-made the 140-pound division for her because making the standard 135-pound limit would’ve required too much cardio and crystal meth. To ensure that she didn’t miss weight at her next fight, which was a pairing in Miami against Kelly Kobold, Carano stepped on the scale buck naked. Thankfully, the towel held up by her father to conceal her nude form from the crowd only slipped once.
Filed under: MMA Videos, FanHouse Exclusive, VideosSarah Kaufman lived up to her words — and then some in her successful Strikeforce title defense against Roxanne Modafferi this past Friday in Everett, Wash., and MMA Fighting’s E. Casey Leydon was on …
Sarah Kaufman lived up to her words — and then some in her successful Strikeforce title defense against Roxanne Modafferi this past Friday in Everett, Wash., and MMA Fighting’s E. Casey Leydon was on hand to document the two top-ranked 135-pounders on the night of the fight.
Check out our exclusive behind-the-scenes video of the hours leading up to their showdown and the candid moments immediately following the fight.
Check it out below.
More Kaufman vs. Modafferi Fight Journals: Part 1 |Part 2
Filed under: Strikeforce
It happened again. For the second time in as many events in the Strikeforce: Challengers series, one of the night’s most compelling attractions ended with the winner pleading/demanding to be taken off Challengers and put into a…
It happened again. For the second time in as many events in the Strikeforce: Challengers series, one of the night’s most compelling attractions ended with the winner pleading/demanding to be taken off Challengers and put into a major event.
Last time it was Matt Lindland, who’s never been shy about his expressing his opinions. This time it was 135-pound women’s champ Sarah Kaufman, who mentioned her desire to be on a proper Strikeforce card every single time there was a microphone nearby.
The thinking behind the Challengers cards is that it’s a proving ground for up-and-comers, hence the tagline, “Where champions are made.” In theory, that’s a pretty solid concept, or at least it would be if so many of the fighters featured on the event didn’t openly interpret their own presence there as an insult.
Filed under: StrikeforceIn one of the most stunning endings to a women’s fight that mixed martial arts has ever seen, Sarah Kaufman knocked out Roxanne Modafferi by picking her up and slamming the back of her head against the canvas in the third round …
In one of the most stunning endings to a women’s fight that mixed martial arts has ever seen, Sarah Kaufman knocked out Roxanne Modafferi by picking her up and slamming the back of her head against the canvas in the third round of their Strikeforce title fight.
Kaufman used it as an opportunity to tell her promoters that they need to do a better jof of promoting her.
“Get me on main cards on Showtime,” Kaufman said afterward. “I think I deserve it. Put me on there.”
Sarah Kaufman hears the same questions over and over these days. It gets a little tiresome at times, but she knows she brought it on herself. She’s the squeaky wheel who demanded some grease on live television.
Strikeforce 135-pound women’s champion 
In one of the most stunning endings to a women’s fight that mixed martial arts has ever seen,