Sarah Kaufman defeated Takayo Hashi via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) to become to first ever Strikeforce women’s welterweight (135 lbs.) champion. On a night when the Canadian women’s curling team suffered a crushing defeat to Sweden in the gold medal game. Kaufman, a Victoria, British Columbia native won some much deserved MMA gold to bring home to Canada.
Kaufman controlled Hashi in the first round, knocking her down three times with punches. Kaufman continued to dictate the pace but slowed it down in the second. The third round was more active as Kaufman knocked Hashi down twice with punches and stuffed the first takedown attempt of the bout. Kaufman continued to out-box her opponent and was quick to spring to her feet when Hashi attempted to bring the fight to the mat.
Luke Rockhold continued his perfection in Strikeforce by dropping Paul Bradley twice with counter-right hands in the first round. Rockhold scored a first round TKO victory over Bradley after beating him into the cage with a variety of strikes. Luke Rockhold improved to 7-1 as a professional and will now be looking for stiffer competition in Strikeforce.
Karl Amoussou’s Strikeforce debut against Trevor Prangley was ended after just 4:14 in the first round via Technical Draw due to an accidental foul. The fighters were tentative in the first round but did collide sporadically to each connect with power punches. Prangley took his opponent to the mat but Amoussou was able to hold on to him and force the refeee to stand up the fighters. After exchanging big punches, Amoussou was accidentally poked in the eye. Amoussou told the doctor that he could not see out of his eye but wanted to wait to try and recover. The doctor did not give the fighter any time and recommended to the referee that he stop the fight.
In other fights, Tarec Saffiedine improved to 8-2 with a win over 7-2 James Terry via unanimous decision. Wayne Philips defeated Eric Lawson via armbar submission in the first round and Yancy Medeiros got a victory over Raul Castillo via unanimous decision.
