Reigning Strikeforce Women's Welterweight Champion Sarah Kaufman defeated challenger Roxanne Modafferi in WWE style on the Strikeforce Challengers 9 fight card at the Comcast Arena in Everett, Wash. July 23.
Possibly in an effort to show that women's MMA can be at least as entertaining as the male counterpart both fighters pulled impressive tricks out of their hats that displayed wide-ranging skill sets.
Modafferi started the title bout that was scheduled for five rounds of five minutes each out confident enough to come out of her corner with a flying knee that failed to connect. Kaufman immediately thwarted the attack by keeping Modafferi pressed against the fence in the clinch. Although Modafferi managed to reverse positions and dish out some knees Kaufman happily traded those back along with some body shots.
A successful takedown with a foot sweep by Modafferi only got her into Kaufman's full guard without being able to do any significant damage. The ensuing stale mate on the ground resulted in the referee standing the fighters back up again. But after a brief exchange of kicks and punches they were back in the clinch where Kaufman easily blocked Modafferi's attempted judo throws.
Round two was more of the same action with Kaufman increasing her landed-punch-ratio while Modafferi started to slow down.
After dishing out some serious physical punishment in 'Cyborg fashion' Kaufman finally sealed Modafferi's fate in WWE style with a massive body slam that left the challenger unconscious on the ground at 4:45 in round three.
“I got a knockout,” Kaufman said. “It feels good to get the KO and to impress. She was really good at the take downs, but I could feel her getting tired. The opportunity was there with the body slam and I took advantage of it.”
As a result the undefeated Kaufman keeps her Strikeforce crown while boosting her fight record to an impressive 12-0 that includes nine (T)KO-wins.
Comments
That was a sick slam to end a great fight! I was just like WOW watching it.
Yeah, those two ladies took all the attention away from the main event (Shane del Rosario vs. Lolohea Mahe) for days if not weeks to come. :-)
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