My next title defence is set…

// September 2nd, 2010 // 1 Comment » // General

…October 9, 2010 in San Jose! I will be co-main event of the Nick Diaz vs KJ Noons 2: taking on Marloes Coenen. While Marloes’ last fight ended in a TKO loss to Cris “Cyborg” Santos in January – which would seemingly favour me – I am not looking at this as an easy fight. Marloes has a lot of experience and is strong in many different aspects of the fight game.

If you haven’t heard much about Marloes, she is 17-4 (12submissions, 2 TKO’s), out of Amsterdam. Don’t let the submissions fool you, she is also known for her Thai boxing.

For me, I am really excited to be fighting again so soon. It should be a great fight, and will be interesting to see how Marloes feels after making her first cut to 135lbs. My goal is to always finish the fight – and this fight will be no different. Look forward to some exciting exchanges and maybe even a few surprises…but that belt HAS to come back to Canada with me

Cool Highlight Video

// August 27th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // General

Thank you to the MMEhShow for this one:

object width=”480″ height=”385″>

Phoenix, Tournament and fighting Meisha – Part 2

// August 23rd, 2010 // 3 Comments » // General

Again, life has been very busy, so I apologize for not putting up part 2 sooner…but here I am now, so I won’t waste anymore time.

Semi-final 2: Carina Damm vs Hitomi Akano

I actually wasn’t too sure how this fight would go – but I did have Akano winning. In the first round Carina came out very aggressive and dominated the stand up and the ground. Even when Akano tried for her Judo throws, Carina managed to stay on top and out of danger. It was in the second round where the fight changed. Carina remained aggressive, but Akano was able to get some good positioning on the ground after a throw (which could have been the suplex that Carina did) and locked on a triangle/armbar combination which forced Carina to tap.

Based on the semis – I had Akano winning by decision/ submission over Tate. But I was wrong…

Finals: Meisha Tate vs Hitomi Akano

All 3 rounds were actually quite similar. Meisha tried to do some striking, but didn’t manage to connect with very many shots. As soon as the distance was right, Akano would grab on and perform some slick Judo throw; however, in the process, Akano would give up her back to Tate. Tate managed to control Akano’s back and tried to go for chokes…alas to no avail! In the second round, Akano actually put on a figure four ankle lock (or maybe they call it toe-hold) and from where I was sitting, it looked REALLY tight. Meisha toughed it out and got back into a control position before the end of the round…but I’m sure her ankle was pretty stiff for a few days. Meisha won the fight by unanimous decision and took home the Strikeforce Tournament belt.

I would have loved to see some more stand up/ striking in all of these fights – but all 4 ladies categorized themselves as ground fighters – so they all followed their game plans (or at least it seems). By winning the tournament, Meisha has earned herself a shot at fighting for the title, and she says she hopes that means me. And while Meisha said some nice things on the mike about me…I saw her mouth into the camera one of two things: “Sarah Kaufman I have your game” or “Sarah Kaufman I have your name.” Either way, I take that as Meisha thinks she is going to beat me if/when we rematch. And while I do think that her gas looked better in the second fight…it’s not good enough to fight me for 5 x 5min rounds.

There is no way that anyone is taking the belt away from me…so Meisha be prepared for another loss on your record.

Phoenix, Tournament and fighting Meisha Part 1

// August 16th, 2010 // 7 Comments » // General

So I did write on my facebook page (HERE) that I was going to recap the fights and tell my opinions on Saturday; however, flight delays and cancellations took over my entire day and then I took Sunday to myself and hung out with Rhino!

Now that I’m back to my usual schedule, I thought I would use this time to tell you how I feel about Phoenix, the women’s tournament as a whole, and the opportunity to fight Meisha, again.

For one, Phoenix is a terribly hot and dry place to be, but I did meet some really cool people there. Of course I got to hang out with Esther Lin from www.allelbows.com, and the Strikeforce and Showtime gang…but I was also lucky enough to hang out with Cris Cyborg, the Lybarger twins and meet Megumi Fuji!

Onto the good stuff though…my thoughts on the tournament match-ups. First off, I think that HAD the rounds been 5 mins long, or at least 3 rounds in the semi-finals, results could have been vastly different, but since they weren’t here are my thoughts…

Alternate Bout: Colleen Schneider vs Liz Carmouche – Rd 1 Liz looked quite strong and tried to throw just enough hands to get Colleen to back against the cage where Liz could take her down. In Rd 2, Colleen started to throw her hands and high kicks and both ladies tried for the takedown but no visible damage was left at the conclusion of the 2 rounds. I personally thought that Liz won rd 1 and Colleen won rd 2, but since the judges had to make a decision, I think that based on the 6 min of fighting Liz dominated the fight and should (AND DID) take home the win.

Semi-Final: Meisha Tate vs Maiju Kujala – Rd 1 I thought that Meisha would be able to just come in and take Maiju down; however, Maiju did a great job of staying on her feet and managing to use the cage to keep her balance. Eventually Meisha got the takedown, but not much happened, and at the conclusion of 3 min I thought Meisha was already looking a little winded. Coming out for Rd 2, Maiju actually started to land some nice shots on Meisha. Tate landed a nice front kick to Maiju’s face, but she just walked right through it and landed some more shots of her own. Tate definitely took some very deep breaths and tried for a knee tap to pass – which she successfully got towards the end of the round. Tate finished the fight by trying for some punches – that didn’t look like they would hurt or were even hitting Maiju – but still good for the judges. Tate got the decision, but is definitely lucky that there were only 2×3 min rounds instead of either 3 rounds or 5 min ones.

I’m going to head off to bed…but look for part 2 within a day (or maybe 2 lol)!

**Please take note that these are how I remember the fights going, but I could definitely have missed out on a few things, for which I apologize