Sarah Kaufman
Women’s bantamweight champ won title against Tate in March
Ronda Rousey‘s first title defense opponent has been known for a while. Now, apparently, she knows when she’ll make her first defense.
According to a report, Rousey, the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion, will defend her belt against Sarah Kaufman in August. The news comes from MMAFighting.com, which also said a precise date and location has not yet been determined.
Rousey (5-0, 3-0 Strikeforce) won the 135-pound title in her first fight in the weight class in March, submitting Miesha Tate with a first-round armbar – the same submission she had used in the first four fights of her career.
The judo Olympian came under fire from some for her confidence going into the fight with Tate, and Tate – as well as Kaufman – believed that Rousey was not yet worthy of a title shot and that she had talked her way into the fight. But if that was the case, she more than backed it up and nearly took Tate’s arm with her.
Kaufman ( 15-1, 6-1 Strikef0rce) will get another crack at the title she used to hold. She beat Takayo Hashi in February 2010 to win the bantamweight title, then defended it against Roxanne Modafferi with a slam knockout that summer. She lost the belt to Marloes Coenen, though, who after one successful defnese then lost it to Tate, who lost it to Rousey. Kaufman has gone 3-0 since losing the title, including a March decision win over Alexis Davis.