Issue 116

July 2014

Former Strikeforce champion Sarah Kaufman could have been a cardiac surgeon – instead she chose MMA. Now she's planning to break the heart of UFC title-holder Ronda Rousey.

Division: Bantamweight

Age: 28

Pro debut: 2006

Pro record: 17-2 (1NC)

Team: Zugec MMA/Jackson's

Height: Five-foot-five

Style: Kickboxer

Sarah Kaufman is an extraordinary woman. She left home aged 17, and has never been back. That was 11 years ago. "I just decided my path was different to that of the way my family is, so I left," she tells Fighters Only, in an exclusive interview. "We were very different. It's just the way it is."

Another thing few fans will know is that Kaufman's mother, who was from Scotland, and her father, from Blackpool in northern England, moved to Canada after meeting in London. Her father was also Jewish, but Kaufman never practiced the faith.

Now 28, and one of the most respected female mixed martial artists anywhere in the world, Kaufman is benefitting from the oxygen of publicity which has fired through the 135lb women's bantamweight category since its platform within the UFC was created.

While incumbent champion Ronda Rousey is the most recognizable face of the women's arm of the sport, Kaufman, with a 17-2 (1NC) record, has already laid down a template or two herself within the women's division.

Kaufman was the first Strikeforce women's bantamweight champion, and, right now, believes she has unfulfilled duties within the UFC: to give the champion a true challenge. 

In the current UFC rankings she is ranked number five, and has career victories over Miesha Tate, Liz Carmouche and Alexis Davis, twice. 

That Strikeforce title was taken from her by Marloes Coenen. In 20 MMA fights, her only other defeat was, of course, to Ronda Rousey. A split points defeat to Jessica Eye was returned as a no contest, after Eye tested positive for marijuana. By the by, she reckons.  

But begin a conversation with Kaufman and her intelligence booms out with her clear, resonant, confident voice. She is a graduate of Claremont Secondary School, and after that attended two years at the University of Victoria with a goal of becoming a cardiovascular surgeon. But then she decided against going to medical school because of the number of years' study it would take, and so much of her time was being taken up training MMA.

“I had planned to be a heart surgeon, but obviously it has worked out differently,” she explains. “But if you delve around, there are a lot of intellectual people in MMA. It’s like a physical chess battle, and it does require a great deal of intelligence to master. The components are variable and complex.”

What Kaufman has always had, nonetheless, is the pre-disposition to study with intensity – and the ability to consume complex subjects.

Her physical prowess first revealed itself when she became a dancer aged just two. As a member of a dance company, she was pretty serious about it, spending long hours perfecting everything from ballet to jazz to hip-hop. 

Yet it was when an MMA school opened in the building where her dance company rehearsed, she began to take classes under Adam Zugec. She started with an aerobics kickboxing class, but that soon developed into a fascination for MMA. She has never looked back. 

In April this year, Kaufman made history, taking part in the first women’s fight in the region of Quebec. It is one of so many little milestones Sarah has reached.

She defeated Leslie Smith at The Ultimate Fighter Nations Finale event in Quebec City. Watching it from a few feet away, Octagon-side, it was difficult not to admire the hard-knock way in which Kaufman takes her opponent on at full steam, refusing to take a backward step. She is relentless. But the night also created another notch on her pioneering, pathfinder life. 

Following that bout,we discussed whether being the first female to fight in Quebec meant something to her. She had loved the crowd, the reception, for a start. 

“Being part of the Canadian UFC team and the whole UFC team is an honor,” she said at the time. “To be able to fight in my home country and put up a great show for the fans, and have a good performance as well is what I love.”

But now it's a run on the title that really grips her. “Based on my track record with the UFC and getting fights and having them fall out, I really haven’t mapped out anything because it keeps changing... but I do hope that with one or two more really solid wins I’m in title contention. I’m just going to stay focused until I get the opportunity to get that big shiny belt around my waist.” 

Her move away from home at such a young age fascinates, but even looking back she says it fails to surprise her that she actually did it. “I don’t think so,” she replies. “As a child I was very independent. I’ve always liked to do things on my own. I was very stubborn, very determined to be the best, and to do what I needed to do to take what was the best path for me.

“It’s like the way forward on this path into the UFC. No matter what happens, you clench your teeth, you dig in and you move forward, and keep trying to claw your way to the top by whatever means necessary, whether that be through your own skill-set, or your personal morality. 

"I feel really good with how I carry myself and the run that I’ve made so far. I always just look forward to the future.”

Kaufman talks how she fights – with large, broad, fearless strikes. She is also generous about what Rousey has brought to the sport and the women’s division. “It’s been a crazy turnaround in the last 15 months, and Ronda Rousey’s had a huge part in that,” she acknowledges.

“The UFC’s really gotten behind her and all the females. They have helped Ronda to become a big star outside the sport, as in her film career and the endorsements she has been able to secure.

“Ronda is a tough chick with that strut, and a lot of us don’t have that. But Ronda couldn’t have done it without the UFC and its platform, and women’s MMA would not have grown so quickly without Ronda. But we are all different, and we bring different qualities. She has that ‘swagger’ about her, while I, like other girls, am quiet outside the Octagon and press the switch when I go in there.

“The great thing is that there’s been very few women’s fights in the last 15 months that weren’t crowd pleasers.”

And if perception is reality, there has been a shift, reckons Kaufman. “I think the way fighting is seen in general, not just women’s fighting, is changing because of MMA. The general public thought at one time that fighters were mean, that they got in scraps in the street, but in reality almost all fighters walk around with a smile on their face. After all, we are professional athletes involved in a sport.”

The smile on Kaufman’s own face grows wider when she looks ahead to the rest of this year: “I don’t care if it takes one fight, or five fights, I’ll eventually get there and fight for the UFC women’s bantamweight title. Cat Zingano’s sitting at number one, so if I can get her in an Octagon with me this year, that’s a spot I want to be in. It would be a super exciting fight, and a really fun fight that I’d be able to win.”

Who’s going to bet against Kaufman being the last woman standing?