Strikeforce women's champion, Sarah Kaufman, vents some frustrations on her blog at PrettyToughFighter.com:
Cookies and Man Parts
…seem to be the 2 things that will get me on a main Strikeforce card…that and learning how to shake my assets
I am currently the Strikeforce Women’s Welterweight Champion…yet I fought for the title on a Challengers Card. Now, I am set to defend said title against Roxanne Modafferi in just a few days – again – on a Challengers Card.
I know that it’s going to be a fun and challenging fight…and I always welcome that. Roxanne has been around the sport for a long time and will come game to fight; however, I need to take this fight and make a statement.
That statement will be: I deserve to be on a main Strikeforce Card because I am a talented, exciting FEMALE fighter at 135lbs! I will NOT eat a ridiculous amount of cookies to make 145lbs JUST for the opportunity to be on a main card and growing man parts… well that would just be ridiculous :D
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almost 2 years ago
Scott Haber
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She has a point!
She doesn’t have the killer body of santos nor does she have the face of Carano. Too bad.
by 209BubbleTrousers on Jul 21, 2010 7:30 PM EDT reply actions
I love Sarah kaufman
"I will do nothing lightly. When I walk, I will walk heavily. When I fight, I will fight with conviction. When I speak, I will speak strongly. When I love, I will love with everything"
by dedstrk316 on Jul 21, 2010 8:02 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Strikeforce sure does do a good job of alienating their champions.
I’m guessing Sarah is also more than a little pissed off that Strikeforce actually used the champions clause to extend her contract. People bitch about the UFC’s clause, but at least Zuffa negotiates in good faith and never actually uses theirs. Strikeforce treats it like an automatic contract extension, no negotiation required.
no she didnt. She posted on the ug that strikeforce hadn’t talked to her about 3 months after the fight and they responded by saying that they extended it via the champions clause.
Try to keep up. She has since renegotiated it and got more money. Those are her words.
HTML5 + WebM now! Death to Flash!!!
In May there was some controversy when her contract was automatically renewed courtesy of the so-called “champions clause,” following the third and final fight of her agreement with Strikeforce. Kaufman explains that her representation renegotiated a new contract with Strikeforce, but doesn’t go into the specific details.
http://www.instrength.com
Way to go Sarah!
Unfortunately, talent and skill are not the only prerequisites required to be on a MMA main card. Especially, when you’re breaking ground for women in the sport. Being female seem’s to compound the obstacle’s. Fortunately, Sarah Kauffman has a head on her shoulders, and realizes these things, and has backed herself up with a little showmanship and personality.
Facts on the Ground:
While I have nothing inherently against women’s MMA (and am a Roxy fan), I am with Strikeforce on this one. Until the level of skill improves, I’d rather see less of it on big cards. Sure, there are fights with back and forth action, but women’s fights seem to be too one-sided for my taste. In due time, women’s MMA will be headlining big cards, but not until the quality improves.
by HonorableJudgeIto on Jul 21, 2010 8:31 PM EDT reply actions
Strikeforce has had 8 events this year, but they’ve only had 5 female fights. The numbers don’t lie.
Wow. That sucks.
"I’m not going to stop yelling because that would mean, I lost the fight!"-Kenny Powers
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by ekc on Jul 22, 2010 4:25 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I’m gonna hold out on the “you go, girl”s on this one.
As a champion, and therefore representative on your company, you can’t go around shitting on the cards you’re fighting on. Trashing the Challengers’ cards isn’t going to sell tickets. In fact, it will do the opposite. Why would I want to pay to see a card that the fighter doesn’t even want to be on?
Sarah is one of, literally, a handful of female fighters who gets a nationwide audience to perform in front of. There are women who would kill to have her spot.
Drop the “whoa is a female fighter” schtick too, Tyron Woodley is a hell of a lot more impressive than Sarah Kaufman with credentials to match and he’s still on Challengers without pouting.
Woodley complained about
being stuck on challengers cards in several interviews, a while back.
by Scott Haber on Jul 21, 2010 9:25 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions 3 recs
But is Woodley a champ? NO
StrikeForce having a Champion on a Challengers card is bogus on many levels.
Walking the line between intelligence and ignorance since 1985
@deowade
by Damon O. on Jul 21, 2010 10:13 PM EDT up reply actions 6 recs
Challengers is the stage for up an coming talent, correct? Kaufman is the 135lb Champion. Not someone that’s a few fights away from the title but a Champion. She’s paid her dues and should be on the main stage with the other Champions.
Walking the line between intelligence and ignorance since 1985
@deowade
I'm with Sarah Kaufman on this.
Sarah Kaufman holds the 135 lb. title belt. She deserves to be treated with the same respect that Strikeforce treats all their other champions. Oh wait….
Just BE.
I feel bad saying it...
But I can’t stand womens MMA, as their top fighters aren’t really that great when compared to their male counterparts. If you were to put their skillsets in a mans body, the only competitive one would probably be Cyborg.
In a few years womens mma will somewhat catch up, but right now I can’t watch it.
by A K I R A on Jul 21, 2010 10:22 PM EDT via mobile reply actions 1 recs
Don't worry man, I'm with you
I don’t think it’s sexist to say that women’s MMA for the most part isn’t really high level enough yet to be overly exciting. The striking and grappling just isn’t developed or strong enough to hold my interest for too long. As you said, there is a good chance it will grow and evolve in a few years time but for the moment, it doesn’t hold much interest with me.
by dreamers_12345 on Jul 21, 2010 11:39 PM EDT up reply actions
HAHAHA
If you were to put their skillsets in a mans body, the only competitive one would probably be Cyborg.
No.
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam.
Well not tip tier, maybe mid to high bottom tier haha
by A K I R A on Jul 22, 2010 12:07 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Also what I meant was, out of all of them, she’d be the only one that’d be any bit competitive (again to the lower tier).
by A K I R A on Jul 22, 2010 12:08 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
If I were her I’d be glad to be employed. There are very few promotions that feature women fighting, at least she’s getting TV-time on a card at all.
1) If it wasn’t for Strikeforce and Showtime (and to a lesser extent, Bellator), Women’s MMA on television would cease to exist.
2) Being in the main or co-main event of any card on Showtime is pretty good for a 135lb Women’s Champion.
3) Challengers cards are gaining in the ratings and appear to be rapidly approaching the 300k or so baseline viewership for the main Strikeforce shows.
I totally agree with her
Title fights should be treated like they matter. At the very least it should be the main event of the card it’s on. If they don’t have the talent to come up with a fight that’s worthy of the main event of an card they probably shouldn’t have a title in that division.
And at what point does a fighter get to move up the main show? This will be Kaufman’s fourth ShoMMA fight. If Strikeforce has any interest in developing and promoting new talent they’ll have to start moving fighters off these cards eventually.
by simpsycho on Jul 21, 2010 10:59 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Strikeforce sucks at promoting womens mma. There needs to be an all female MMA organization for these ladies.
Good luck getting people to watch an all female card.
by MMAGuard on Jul 22, 2010 8:50 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Strikeforce doesn't know how to work their talent
or treat their champs properly. It’s like the UFC keeping one of their champs on a Spike or Vs card perpetually. I mean, I’m sure Dana has his problems with Anderson Silva, but at the end of the day, he’s their MW champ, and you gotta let the champ fight on the big cards.
This shouldn’t be surprising though. The SF belt doesn’t mean anything and Coker and crew have done their best to make sure it remains so. (see Jake Shields, Kaufman, loser gets title shot, etc).
Strikeforce ultimately can’t win with the hardcore fans no matter what they do
by nastyem on Jul 22, 2010 10:23 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
I understand why she isn’t, but that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t be (on the main cards). I think Cyborg is reaching that point where she can almost carry a card and i wouldn’t mind seeing Sarah share that spotlight. How about a SF women’s card? Cyborg and Srah defending and Gina making a comeback with maybe another female fight to round it out? It may not set ratings records, but I seriously doubt it would be their worst outing.
I agree with this
although I would say a woman-dominated card to test the waters; Cyborg headlining with the Sarah and Gina fights and maybe one or two of their mid-level ‘names’ with a record of exciting fights tossed in, like a Scott Smith fight in the middle or the like. With fans being what they are they might shy away from an all-women card but could convince themselves it is just an unusual regular card with one or two male draws.
by Enmascarado on Jul 22, 2010 11:44 AM EDT up reply actions
Womens MMA deserves to be where the WNBA is – somewhere where I won’t stumble upon it.
It’s not an anti-female bias. At the highest level of many sports, it’s a totally different game. The action is faster, more intense, skills more refined, and ineffective strategies have already been discarded.
It’s the same reason I can’t watch college basketball or college football.
Fighting at 145 in SF would require more than just cookies.
Probably also a death wish.
Don't believe a word I say, I don't train BJJ.
I blog at TangleBones - you should follow me on Twitter here.
If you like it, you should put a rec on it.
This is another reason why they should stop differentiating between Challengers cards and regular Strikeforce cards. The only reason I think they do that is because it means they can pay fighters less.
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