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Victoria's MMA champion set to defend her title

BY CANDICE MACKINNON
Special to The Sun

Canada's homegrown mixed martial artists are making a name for themselves around the world, but
thought the country boasts three world champions in the world's fastest growing sport, most fight fans
have only heard of one: UFC welterweight champion George St Pierre. Sliding under the local radar
are Langley-based DREAM featherweight champion Bibiano “Lightning” Fernandes and the hard-
hitting Strikeforce bantamweight women's champion Sarah Kaufman, from Victoria.

24-year-old Kaufman, 24, who had once attended the University of Victoria with the goal of becoming
a cardiovascular surgeon, is a juggernaut in women's MMA, boasting an 11-0 undefeated record since
entering a sport which combines boxing, wrestling, jiu jitsu, judo, kickboxing, karate, taekwondo and
other classic martial arts disciplines.

“The typical Victoria mentality use to be, 'oh this guy's really tough, he fought in Summer Slugfest or a
tough man competition,” Kaufman said from her hotel in Everett as she gears up for her Friday
Strikeforce title defense. “Now people are saying, 'Wow, you guys are actually doing well on a global
scale,' as opposed to just a bar room brawl kind of thing.”

Kaufman spends a large part of each day training in multiple fight disciplines, and the remainder of the
day teaching mixed martial arts to children at Zugec Ultimate Martial Arts, when she's not serving as
cornerman for her gym teammates.

“I'm kind of like the mother hen,” she says. “I remind them about their mouth guard, their cup, all that
kind of stuff. I actually also collect their checks, cause a lot of times guys are super pumped after they
fight and they just kind of leave. So I'm like, 'Do you guys want to get paid or what?'”

Kaufman, who says she's looking forward to when people appreciate mixed martial artists as athletes
rather than focusing on the potential for violence, faces American contender Roxanne Modafferi in
Everett, Washington on national TV in what she hopes will be a win that solidifies her hold on a
relatively new belt.

Strikeforce, in turn, will be hosting a tournament to decide Kaufman's next opponent, should she move
past the 20-5 kempo karate/Muay Thai/Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert Friday night, signaling their belief that
Kaufman's weight class is rich in depth.

That international exposure is starting to bear fruit. Three fights into her Strikeforce career, Kaufman is
finally beginning to be recognized on the street in her hometown, though fans are often reluctant to
approach the heavy handed, soft spoken striker.

“I was in a grocery store and I had these two guys who looked like they worked a construction kinda
job literally following me around the store to the point where I thought that they thought I was stealing
stuff,” she says. “They ended up turning the corner and they're like, 'Oh, we actually just saw you on
TV so we wanted to say hi, but we're a little nervous.'”

Kaufman doesn't expect Modaferi to be quite so starstruck Friday.


“I don't think that she is going to run away,” she says. “I think that this is going to be a fight that's is
going to get finished.”

Strikeforce is the second largest North American mixed martial arts organization behind the Ultimate
Fighting Championship. Strikeforce: Challengers airs live on Super Channel Fights at 8 p.m. Friday.

candice.mackinnon@gmail.com

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