Music: {allcanada} STRIKEFORCE CHAMPION KAUFMAN REWARDED WITH SHOWCASE FIGHT

Thursday, October 7, 2010

{allcanada} STRIKEFORCE CHAMPION KAUFMAN REWARDED WITH SHOWCASE FIGHT

No one can accuse Sarah Kaufman of failing to back up her words.

Prior to her last fight, the 24-year-old from Victoria complained that the women's welterweight champion deserved to be showcased on Strikeforce's main cards rather than in its secondary Challengers events.

Having talked the talk, Kaufman then walked the walk. In a July Challengers event in Everett, Wash., she defended her title with a bang -- knocking American Roxanne Modafferi senseless by slamming her to the canvas.

Strikeforce took the hint. So on Saturday, after four fights on the Challengers circuit, Kaufman finds herself on the organization's main stage for her second title defence.

"I'm definitely in a good spot right now," said a happy Kaufman.

"The fight with Roxanne went really well. The finish was obviously pretty great for me, and for fans in general was pretty exciting. It got me to the co-main event on the main card."

The show at San Jose's HP Pavilion is headlined by a bad blood rematch between welterweights Nick Diaz and K.J. Noons.

Kaufman (12-0) is an accomplished striker who came to the cage via a ballet studio. She switched from learning pas de deux to left-right combos after a gym opened in the same building where she was taking dance lessons.

She remains loyal to the Zuma gym in Victoria, where she trains, teaches and works full time as office manager.

Her opponent Saturday night is veteran Dutch fighter Marloes Coenen (17-4), whose fight resume dates back to 2000 when she submitted Yuuki Kondo on a Ladies Legends Pro Wrestling card in Tokyo colourfully titled "The Strongest Lady."

"I'd describe her as a Thai boxer and a grappler," said Kaufman. "She does have definitely some good things she does on the ground and some good things that she does on her feet. And she's pretty comfortable being in both places."

The 28-year-old Coenen is moving down to 135 pounds after losing by TKO at 145 pounds to hard-nosed Strikeforce middleweight champion Cris (Cyborg) Santos in January. Immediately prior to that, Coenen submitted Modafferi in 65 seconds.

Coenen tried to stand with Santos for a while in that fight, before attempting to take the powerful Brazilian down. While Coenen held her own in the early stages, Santos' brutal standup eventually took its toll.

"Every fight starts standing," said Kaufman. "So if you shy away too much and try to go straight to the ground, it's pretty predictable."

Coenen has a long reach and a decent right. "It's definitely something to watch out for," said Kaufman, who normally cuts about 12 pounds to make weight.

At five foot nine, the Dutch fighter will have four inches on the Canadian. Kaufman, however, is more than a 3-1 favourite.

As for her finish of Modafferi, Kaufman says she remembers watching a similar slam on TV several weeks earlier.

"I'd always thought that would be super-great to get that but I never considered I would actually do it," she said.

"And it just worked out."

That was not good news for Modafferi, who precipitated the painful finale when she threw her legs around Kaufman in pulling guard.

The Canadian defended the move by standing straight and then slammed her to the canvas in a bid to shake her off.

"As she was going down, I did feel like there was a lot of momentum coming down with her," Kaufman remembered.

"I actually wondered what would happen. Like would she go out? If I would have to keep hitting her? What would go on? As soon as she hit, I knew that she was out. I saw her eyes kind of roll back. It was like 'OK, that's good. We're done."'

She admits it's a tough act to follow. "That's not going to happen again, but it'll be an exciting fight regardless."

Kaufman won the 135-pound championship in February in a five-round decision over Takayo Hashi.

NOTES -- Douglas (The Phenom) Lima (15-4) will face Jesse Juarez (15-5) for the Maximum Fighting Championship welterweight title in the main event of MFC 27: Breaking Point scheduled for Nov. 12 at the River Cree Resort and Casino in Enoch, Alta. ... Medical suspensions arising from the Sept. 30 WEC card in Broomfield, Colo., included 180-day bans for Canadian Mark Hominick, Mike Brown, Jamie Varner and Antonio Banuelos unless cleared by a doctor. Manny Gamburyan and Chang Sung Yung were suspended for 90 days.