Sarah Kaufman: The Future of Women’s MMA
By Josh Stein on Jun 24, 2009
It wasn’t a secret that, if the up-and-coming Kaufman could defeat Shayna Baszler (9-6 MMA), she’d be looking at moving in on the top tier of women’s MMA. After all, defeating Baszler puts her in a class of some of the most dangerous fighters on the women’s side of the sport: Christiane “Cyborg” Santos (7-1 MMA) and Tara LaRosa (17-1 MMA).
Certainly, her back-to-back wins in the Strikeforce Challengers Series, ShoMMA, have put Sarah Kaufman (10-0 MMA) in a position to really move in to the major cards of the organization itself, and while she may not be on the main card until her visibility increases, she’ll certainly be a dangerous and respectable fighter in the ranks, and may look towards a future title shot at 145 pounds, against Gina Carano (7-0 MMA) or the afformentioned Santos.
Kaufman’s impressive victories on the main event of ShoMMA cards, the recent win over Baszler and her win over Miesha Tate (6-2 MMA), after stepping in as a replacement for Kim Couture (1-1 MMA), has demonstrated that she’s ready, and while she’ll certainly need a few primer fights before stepping in against either Santos or Carano, she’s definitely going to be a long term force in the division.
Filed Under: MMA
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The women’s MMA world does not revolve around Carano/Cyborg. There are several weight classes and there are enough fighters at 135 already. It’s not necessary for Sarah to fight at 145. Period. Debi Purcell is already under contract to Strikeforce. Throw in Kaitlyn Young, Roxanne Modaferri & Takayo Hashi and Stikeforce can build to a 135lb title match. Are you going to suggest that Megumi Fujii fight at 145 too? Sheesh!
Frank, the best weight class in women’s MMA is the 115s, no doubt, but Kaufman’s going to fight at 145. You know why? Cuz that’s where the belt is. That’s the weight class Strikeforce wants to build, that’s the weight class Kaufman is going to want to be a part of.
If you think that Strikeforce is going to put together a 135 pound title, then you’re delusional. I love women’s MMA, but they’re not going to design a title to cater to the few dozen of us who enjoy women’s MMA and know the players that aren’t on mainstream radar (even the ones who are better than Gina).
Strikeforce isn’t going to add a second women’s weight class until their first one gets rolling and has a sufficient amount of talent. Bringing the solid girls at 135 into the cage is great, but they’re going to bring them in as 145 pounder. You know why? Because it helps them talk about the title and it helps put the female fighters in context.
Also, I didn’t mention Fujii in this piece. She’s just fine fighting in Japan. I’d rather see Strikeforce have a 115 pound title fight between her and Yuka Tsuji, but that’s not going to happen for the same reason Strikeforce isn’t going to start a 135 pound weight class. They’re not sure they can make money with the big name women, and until they’re sure of that, they’re not even going to consider attempting to make money off of the women no one (except those of use who follow women’s MMA regularly) has heard of.
Pay better attention. Coker and Aframowicz have already said they plan to have multiple weight classes for women. They already have women under contract who can’t fight at 145. Sarah isn’t one of those but she shouldn’t have to and they’re not going to have her do that. She can be a star in her own right. So you’re satisfied with watching Megumi Fujii fight in Japan? That won’t satisfy her. She wants to and will fight in the US, probably in Strikeforce.
Wow, Frank, way to miss the point. The point is, Strikeforce is going to expand weightclasses over long periods of time, but they want fighters like Kaufman in the big shows, and in order to push her matchups in the big shows, they have to do one of two things: announce the creation of a 135 pound title she can fight for or have her listed as a contender for the 145 pound belt.
Its certainly a possibility that they’ll create a 135 pound championship belt, especially if they believe it can make money. That’s not a realistic expectation in the short term.
If Megumi wants to fight up two or three weightclasses and fight in Strikeforce, good for her. Their first expansion is going to be the inclusion of a 135 pound division. Frankly, I’d rather see her fight at 115, because she’s such a monster in that weight class, and wait until the appropriate division is designed for her.
If Strikeforce makes Yuka Tsuji vs. Megumi happen, or puts her up against some of the top 115 pound fighters in the world, I’ll be as excited as any other hardcore women’s fan, but I’d rather them not pull her up to 135 just so that they can have her name on the roster.
Also, you spelled Mike’s name wrong (Afromowitz), but since you’re wrong about so many other things, it hardly seems important.