Strikeforce will return to the Civic Auditorium in San Jose, California for a “Strikeforce: Challengers” card on February 26.
The Civic Auditorium in San Jose is a notable location for Strikeforce. The promotion has run numerous kickboxing and mixed martial arts events there since 1993.
The card will be headlined by a middleweight bout between Trevor Prangley (22-5) and Karl Amoussou (11-2-1). The Strikeforce women’s 135lb belt will also be up for grabs in a bout between Sarah Kaufman and Takayo Hashi.
Prangley, a former South African national wrestling champion, goes into the bout with a five fight win streak that dates back to September 20, 2008. Prangley also finished as a runner up in the first-ever sanctioned single elimination MMA tournament in California back in November 2007.
Amaussou, a devastating French striker with an unorthodox fighting style, has a three fight win streak of his own. He is considered an expert in both judo and savate.
Kaufman is a former professional ballet dancer. She turned to mixed martial arts after discovering that an MMA school had opened underneath her dance studio. Mellow and subdued outside the cage, Kaufman brings a high level of intensity to the cage and has knocked out eight of her ten opponents. She last appeared on a Strikeforce Challengers card last summer, defeating Shayna Baszler by unanimous decision.
She’ll face Kashi, a former champion in the Japanese Smackgirl promotion. Her only loss came at the hands of Hitomi Akano in 2005, and she’s scored eight straight victories since.