Strikeforce women’s 135-pound champion Sarah Kaufman will get a good look at her next potential challenger Friday night.
The Victoria native will be in Phoenix for the organization’s first ever women’s single-elimination tournament as part of its Strikeforce Challengers event at Dodge Theatre, where Meisha Tate, Carina Damm, Hitomi Akano and Maiju Kujala will compete to determine the division’s top contender for the belt held by the Canadian.
The format for the tournament’s first-round matchups, which was determined by a random draw at the weigh-ins Thursday, will consist of two three-minute rounds from which judges must select a winner. Kujala will fight Tate in the first bout of the televised card, followed by Akano vs. Damm.
“I think it’s a real interesting concept,” said the undefeated Kaufman, is coming off a win by knockout last month over Roxanne Modafferi from a slam late in the third round. “It has to be tough to have to train for potentially three different opponents. But at the same time when you train you should be training everything anyway.
“Hopefully you’re at a level where you can tweak what game plan you are going to go with.”
The winners of the two bouts will face off in a three-round final (three-minute rounds) later in the night, just before the main-event matchup between Joe (Diesel) Riggs and Louis Taylor, which will be fought at a catchweight of 182 pounds.
Also competing on the main card on Showtime (SuperChannel in Canada, 11 p.m. ET) will be Ryan Couture, son of UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture, taking on Lucas Stark. Couture, who trains in Las Vegas, will be making his professional debut after a successful 5-1-1 run as an amateur including a three-round draw in March.
“I’d have to be a fool to think coming into this sport that others wouldn’t focus on who my father is. But I accepted that and embrace it,” the 27-year-old told Strikeforce’s Phillip Lanides. “I’m planning on getting in there and mixing it up, and hopefully showing a variety of skills. I think Lucas will be looking to take me down, so I expect to be able to show my submissions. If it stays standing, I hope to utilize my length and hopefully score my first KO.”
All fighters, including the four women competing in the tournament, successfully made weight Thursday.
NOTES: Paul Daley was suspended 30 days by the Quebec Athletic Commission on Tuesday for his sucker-punch of Josh Koscheck at UFC 113 in May, according to MMAjunkie.com. The British fighter, who hit with Koscheck well after the final horn following a frustrating three-round decision loss at the Bell Centre, will be able to compete in his scheduled bout against Jorge Masvidal at Shark Fights 13 on Sept. 11. Daley was immediately released by the UFC following the May 8 incident and president Dana White said he would never fight for the organization again.
