Sarah Kaufman (born in 1985 in Victoria, British Columbia) is a professional female mixed martial artist, fighting in the 135-pound bantamweight category.

She was the first and only Hardcore Championship Fighting Women’s Bantamweight Champion and is the current Strikeforce Women’s Welterweight (135lb) Champion with a record of 12-0.

Biography

Kaufman is a graduate of Claremont Secondary School and attended two years at the University of Victoria with a goal of becoming a cardiovascular surgeon.

A dancer since the age of two, Kaufman had joined a dance company and danced everything from ballet to jazz to hip-hop. When she was 17, an MMA school was opened by Adam Zugec in the building where her dance company rehearsed. She joined the school for a women’s Muay Thai class.

Enjoying it, she quickly began taking as many classes as Zugec offered.

MMA Career

Kaufman won her first seven fights by a form of knockout and captured the Hardcore Championship Fighting Women’s Bantamweight Championship by defeating Ginele Marquez on October 19, 2007. She successfully defended her title against Molly Helsel before the promotion folded in 2008.

After nearly 13 months away from competition, Kaufman returned to action for Palace Fighting Championship on April 23, 2009 and stopped Sara Schneider with strikes in the second round.

Less than one month later, Kaufman made her Strikeforce debut as a late replacement against talented wrestler Miesha Tate. Kaufman won the fight by Unanimous Decision, but it was the first time that she had gone the distance in her career.

She fought again five weeks later against submission specialist Shayna Baszler and once again won via Unanimous Decision. The fight marked the first time that a women’s bout was contested under five-minute rounds in Strikeforce.

Kaufman next fought on the Strikeforce Challengers 7 Card: taking on #2 ranked Takayo Hashi (from Japan). Putting on a technically superior performance, Sarah dominated all 5 rounds, taking home the new Strikeforce Women’s Welterweight Title.

After 3 Decisions, Sarah was ready to finish a fight. On July 23, 2010 Sarah took on Roxanne Modafferi (15-6) in hopes of defending her Strikeforce title. Sarah not only defended it, but won via KO Slam in the 3rd round – which made ESPN’s top plays of the week!

Sarah is now 12-0 with 9 KO/TKO’s.